The Anonymous Redhead
by Bik
Summary: Just when Willow finds happiness with Spike, a new spell-casting evil targets her. And things are made even more complicated when the Scoobies cast a spell that was supposed to help them...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own none of this. Joss Whedon and all the nice people at Mutant Enemy own it all.   
  
Feedback: Please!!!!!!!!!  
  
A/N: I decided that my earlier post of this story was to short so I added more. Also, I didn't get any reviews and found that very discouraging. Also, this is the third repost of this chapter but I didn't really change anything.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Through the crowd, Spike saw a flash of red hair. It was falling up and down lightly, illuminating the girl who it belonged to. Somehow, he knew it was Willow. He could sense her near him. In a crowded place like the Bronze, where everyone blended together in a heaving mass, she stood out. It didn't matter that she was the only one dancing alone, Spike knew that everyone wanted to be with her. Or they envied her because they knew the person they were dancing with wanted to be with her, the anonymous redhead. They all wanted to be apart of the unrestrained ecstasy that she held in her every movement, the emotion that filled that filled her to the point that it threatened to spill over onto the people dancing near her. That's way they all moved closer to her, hoping to catch a drop of it. But no one dared to move too close, she was untouchable. She danced like the world was coming to an end and on a hellmouth, that wasn't unlikely.  
  
Spike was the only person brave enough to approach the wildly dancing girl. He moved to her, fit her motions, matched her beat, if she had one. When she looked up at him, her bright green eyes filled with some unreadable emotion. It wasn't fear. No, Spike hadn't seen fear in the eyes of anyone recently. At least not fear cause be him. But she seemed to accept his presence there by pulling him to her, much to the disappointment of those around them.   
  
They danced. As he predicted, her energy passed to him. They moved together. Together they shared a bond, something that kept them dancing until she slowly moved him off the dance floor. She snuck in quick, teasing kisses on his lips, cheeks, ears. The adrenaline of the music surged through they even as they made their way back to her dorm.  
  
"Buffy's patrolling," Willow slipped in between kisses as she searched for the doorknob, her back to the door so she could still face Spike.   
  
Grabbing her hand is it still groped the door, Spike kissed Willow hard on the mouth. In the kiss he tasted the alcohol on her breath, realizing in that instant that he could be anyone. And that the ecstasy she seemed to hold in her was covering an even more powerful emotion, grief. But even with that knowledge, Spike couldn't stop himself. Neither could she.  
  
The rhythm from the music at the Bronze stuck with them all night. It wasn't until Willow had fallen asleep beside Spike, naked and unassuming, that he saw past it. He saw the girl he'd first seen what seemed like so long ago. The shy, unsure girl who had moved so self consciously on the dance floor. What he had seen tonight, he knew, he might never see again. What had happened between them would never happen again. She would wake up confused and with a terrible hangover. It would take a while for the night's events to come back to her. By then he would be long gone. He couldn't stay any longer knowing he would never see or feel what he had seen and felt that night.  
  
Getting up from that bed and dressing to leave was one of the hardest things Spike had ever done in his unlife. But he knew it was the right thing to do. Remembering the crush he'd harbored for the witch for a while, he decided leaving without a memento would be wrong. And he knew just what to take.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Willow woke up just as Spike thought she would, naked, confused, and with a splitting headache. Added to that was Buffy, who had gotten back from patrolling a while after Spike left.  
  
"Whoa, Will, did you finally find a way to overcome your insomnia?" said the slayer, noting Willow's apparel or lack of.  
  
Willow flushed causing her face to match her hair. She quickly wrapped her blanket around her and hurried to the dresser as Buffy absorbed herself with putting on some make-up. Slowly the events of the night before came flooding back to Willow as she shuffled through her shirt drawer. She couldn't believe what had happened. What was weirder was that she couldn't decide what she thought of all of it.  
  
"Hey Buffy," Willow called and the slayer turned to her best friend, "Have you seen my shirt? You know, the fuzzy, pink one that has the lilac underneath?"  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Willow didn't go to classes that day. She came out and told Buffy the truth. Well, most of the truth, the parts that didn't include sleeping with Buffy's arch enemy.  
  
"Willow with a hangover," the slayer had mused, "at least you didn't get turned into a caveman, I mean cavewomen."  
  
Laughing lightly to cover up her guilt about not telling the whole truth, Willow told her concerned friend to go on to class without her. Without much arguing, Buffy agreed and skipped off to class. Well, she walked cheerfully, too cheerfully to Willow who felt a little hurt that her best friend didn't seem to care very much.  
  
"She's just busy with, you know, slayer stuff and school stuff," the ever-optimistic Willow reasoned, "and boy stuff," she added, pulling her blanket up around her.  
  
Boy stuff. The term suddenly shot a pain through Willow's stomach. Tears welled up in her eyes.  
  
"Oz," she cried pitifully as if by just calling his name he'd appear.  
  
Everyone thought Willow had gotten over her werewolf ex-boyfriend a while ago. Everyone wanted her to, at least. She had actually made some progress but something in her still ached. Despite her attempts to meet new people, Willow felt alone. Something was missing. She hadn't felt complete since Oz left, not for a prolonged period of time. Even when she drank, she still felt lonely.  
  
Last night, though, when she drank, something happened. She felt complete. Not from the alcohol running through her or the music pounding around her. It was the people. She felt wanted, at least for that short time. Especially wanted by one person, the only person who had approached her that night. Spike.   
  
It was strange to think that the presence of the fangless vamp had filled Willow up. But the desire she could sense he had for her stopped the pain for that dance. For the entire time they were together.  
  
Even as she thought about him, the aching stopped. Then suddenly Willow felt silly about thinking about the blond vampire and the pain of the hangover came back violently, forcing her to rush off to the bathroom.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
"What are you doing here?" Spike asked himself silently as he stood in Willow's dorm room closet.  
  
About 3:00 am, Spike found himself near the edge of California after driving for approximently two hours. He had stood staring the sign welcoming him into Nevada for a long time. He thought about her, of course. Wondering if she was sleeping or had woken up, the not-so sunny effects of beer kicking in. If she was awake, was she thinking of him? Would she be thinking good thoughts about him or regretting what she'd done? Would she tell Buffy about him? Would it be with shame or hope?  
  
"Bugger it!" He declared finally to his nonexistent audience. "Bugger doing the right thing! I'm the bloody poofter!"  
  
With that, he revved up the engine and backed up into the welcome sign for good luck and was headed back to Sunnyhell.  
  
But by the time he got there, the sun was almost up. Parking his car in a handicap space and running like the wind was Spike's only option to get to Willow's dorm room before dusting time.  
  
When he got to the room he would have said a prayer, had he not been a demon, that Buffy wasn't awake, but time would not allow that. Instead he hoped for the best, slipped through the door, found Willow and Buffy asleep, and hid in the closet amongst flowered skirts and blouses. Spike didn't really have a plan. He'd tried to think of one on the way back to Sunnydale but nothing come to him in his unusually jittery state.  
  
So he just decided to wait, hoping that there would be a moment where the slayer would leave him to his anonymous redhead.  
  
Spike is not a patient demon. Waiting in that closet was unbearable. It was cramped and hot. The slits in the doors were too small to see out of so he couldn't even watch Willow sleep. It took forever but finally Willow and Buffy woke up and exchanged the usual morning hellos. Willow didn't mention what happened between her and Spike. Then the slayer was gone. But suddenly, while preparing his entrance, he heard Willow whisper something. Oz. Spike's unbeating heart sank.  
  
"What are you doing here?" He though, all of his hopes dashed. He'd just return Willow's shirt, the pink fuzzy one, and go. Luckily Willow ran off, out the door, leaving him time to do what needed to be done.  
  
He slowly opened the door and eased his way out. One of the most important things Spike had leaned as a vampire was how to be sneaky. And his training would of worked fine had the doorknob not suddenly started to turn.  
  
Of all the things Spike could've done in that moment, grabbing a lampshade for a disguise was the dumbest. There he was, a 126 year-old vampire who's taken down two slayers, with a lampshade on his head trying to hide from the mortal girl he was in love with.  
  
"Could this get any worse?" Spike thought as the door opened.  
  
"Spike?!?"  
  
"Oh bloody hell," Spike groaned as he took off the frilly pink lampshade.  
  
It was the slayer. That blond twit.  
  
"Oh, I am so going to slay you!" The small but surprisingly strong blonde declared, brandishing a stake from her purse.  
  
"Fine! Go ahead! See if I care!" The vampire fumed, opening his arms giving easy access to his heart.  
  
Buffy considered a moment, looking at the pathetic vampire in front of her.  
  
'What are you doing here?" She asked, still holding the stake fiercely.  
  
"Well, I was going to proclaim my love to your redheaded roommate, where'd she go anyhow?"  
  
"Oh, funny, Spike," sneered Buffy.  
  
Spike dropped his arms to his side and rolled his eyes.  
  
"Right, vampire evil, can't love," Spike said, oozing with sarcasm and distaste.  
  
"Damn straight," She replied, suddenly moving closer to him, her voice level dropping while she raised the stake to his heart. "I don't want Willow to be hurt. Physically or emotionally. Not again. That's why I came back."  
  
"Wait, was that acceptance or-"  
  
"No!" Buffy cried, cutting Spike off. "It was just... a warning. Willow has to decide if she wants you or not. But if she does want you, it's going to take a lot more to get my approval."  
  
Spike rolled his eyes. "Yes, Big Sister Buffy."  
  
"I'm serious," she hissed, "you're still evil to me. You can't just decide to be good. you have to earn it."  
  
Understanding seemed to fill Spike's eyes. He really loved Willow. He knew that she made him to be better. Well, not enough to turn into a poof, but enough to work for her approval.  
  
Just then, a very dazed Willow walked in to see her best friend holding a stake up to the man she had slept with.  
  
"No, Buffy don't!" Willow cried, seized by a sudden impulse to protect Spike by running to his side.  
  
Spike looked down at the red-haired girl, her eyebrows stitched together in worry, her delicate hands grasping his arm. While gazing down at the girl he'd come back for, he began to see all her flaws. A small bump or line, nothing to large. Looking at her made Spike see the real Willow. Not the unobtainable and anonymous redhead he'd seen the night before with some enchanting perfection in her every move. He saw Willow. And he realized, he loved this Willow more than the one he'd seen dancing in all her splendor. This realization made he kiss her passionately and she didn't pull away. Buffy stood there amazed. But neither Spike nor Willow noticed her, they just kept kissing. 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Again, sadly, all of these characters are not my own, they are Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy's. *sniff*.  
  
Feedback: Yes please!  
  
Setting: After "Doomed".  
  
A/N: Thank you, little_me, CY, sandybanks, Len, Fhulhi the Crazy, and BlueSuzzanne (who actually didn't review this story but my other) for your reviews! Keep them comin'!  
****  
  
Meandering through the crowds of students, Buffy attempted to find her next class, recall the chapters she read for homework, and sort through everything that had just occurred. She wasn't doing too well. So far, she'd walked past a certain pine tree three times and she couldn't remember if she ever read the chapters assigned. All she could think about was waking up to a hungover best friend who about fifteen minutes after waking up had announced her love to a vampire that had been hiding in their closet. Yes, after making out for five minutes out of the fifteen, Willow broke apart from Spike, long enough to explain how she didn't feel empty any more to her best friend. She said that she thought her unhappiness wasn't out of missing Oz but really out of lacking Spike and his love. She talked about how happy she was now. Oh, and she mentioned sleeping with Spike the night before in her drunken state while Buffy was gone.  
  
All of this sent the already stressed-out slayer into over load. What was she supposed to say? Her best friend and her mortal, well kind of, enemy were in love. While Buffy's exit which included stuttering "I can't believe it" a dozen times may have lacked her usual eloquence, she deserved some peace. And a classroom full of bored students and an equally if not more-so teacher would be just the place to get that peace. If only she could find it.  
  
In the end, Buffy gave up.  
  
'I'm sure there are plenty of peaceful, boring environments that I can go to,' she thought reasonably. 'I wonder what Giles is up to.'  
****  
Giles was up to his knees in books. As usual. He was doing his annual sorting of books, reorganize them, add in new ones, see what to add to his collection, the like. Buffy could barely whisk into his house without knocking there were so many books scattered about.  
  
"Giles?" The girl asked, stepping in carefully. "You okay?"  
  
"Oh, yes," the smiling English man said, emerging from behind a stack. "Don't worry, no demon's here."  
  
"No, it's just, I was afraid that so much clutter would cause you to have a breakdown," Buffy said while inspecting the room. "Or that it was a breakdown that caused all of this."  
  
Giles smiled in spite of himself. "Just the annual sorting of the books."  
  
"Hm. Clever title."  
  
By now Buffy had begun going through Giles' refrigerator with no avail.  
  
"Um, shouldn't you be in class or-or something?" Giles questioned.  
  
"Well, yeah," Buffy replied as she took her head out from the frig, settling on a yogurt. "But I got lost. I'm feeling a little disoriented."  
  
"And yet you found your way here." Then, seeing Buffy's worried expression, Giles turned serious. "Was it a demon or..."  
  
Waving her spoon wielding hand, Buffy cut her watcher off. "No, no, nothing like that. Well it does involve a demon but not how you think."  
  
The intelligent ex-Liberian look confused. Buffy sighed, hoping Willow wouldn't mind her spilling.  
  
"It's Willow," Buffy began. Giles' face tensed. "She and, well as hard as it is to believe, Spike are, well, in love."  
  
"Oh dear," the watcher mumbled, seeming to be lost in his thoughts. "That is disorienting."  
  
Giles, after clearing a seat among his books, sat down, a distant look on his face. Buffy perform a similar ritual of clearing a spot and sat down next to him.  
  
"It's a lot," Buffy started. "Well, duh, it's a lot. But it's kinda a good a lot. I mean."  
  
Buffy got up to pace but finding it useless amoung the piles, again sat next to the still dazed man.  
  
"I'm happy for Willow. I didn't get to see her with Spike for long but she seemed happy. Really happy. It's nice to see her like that again."  
  
Giles, breaking his trance, nodded and said, "yes, she deserves it. But I'm just not so sure that Spike does."  
  
"I know what you mean. But I talked to him briefly and he really loves her. He's willing to do good for her to earn our approval. That's gotta count for something."  
  
"Yes, of course it does. Spike's done a lot though, it'll be hard."  
"Well, for now, we should try to be supportive, for Willow's sake. We can put up with Spike if it makes her happy. I hope. I'm just worried about how Xander will react."  
****  
"Harris!" Shouted a burly man from across the construction site. "Hey Harris!"  
  
Xander looked up from the hole he'd been digging to see his boss come barreling over. As customary, he wiped the back of his hand across his forehead in hopes to wipe the sweat that trickled down his handsome face.  
  
"Harris, Peters showed up. You have the rest of the day off," his boss informed him.  
  
"Thanks but I-" Xander cut off when he saw his girlfriend, Anya, waiting for him. Even with her awkward stance, Xander thought Anya was beautiful in her ruffled white blouse and flowy but figure-flattering red skirt. In her hands, Xander noticed, she was clinging to a small brown paper bag. "Thanks, boss, I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
Dropping his hard hat and shovel, Xander ran towards his ex-demon girlfriend and gave her a short kiss. Pulling back, Xander felt a little foolish for his sudden excitement but he couldn't help it.  
  
"Xander," the smiling girl said. "Your all sweaty.'  
  
"Oh, right. It's kinda hard to spend a day digging in the sun and not get sweaty."  
  
"The sweat makes your muscles shine," Anya observed, smiling and running her hand up and down his arm suggestively.  
  
"I'm imagining having s-"  
  
"So what's in the bag?" Xander asked, cutting Anya off while noting the stares from his coworkers.  
  
"Oh," Anya said as if she'd forgotten about it. "I prepared you a midday meal."  
  
Taking the bag nervously, Xander smiled as wide as he could at his girlfriend.  
  
"I've heard that sometimes women do that," Anya continued on as Xander inspected the contents of the bag. "You know, make meals for their husbands or boyfriends. I decided to surprise you."  
  
"That you did, Anya, that you did," Xander said. with as much pleasure he could muster. In the bag, Xander had discovered a dented container of pudding, a fruit roll up, some water, and a sandwich that looked like something he'd find behind his washing machine. She tried.  
  
Grinning at her favorite human's approval, Anya grabbed Xander's hand while his other hand expertly found a trash can and disposed of Anya's surprise.  
  
"Let's go have sex!" Anya suggested a little too loudly.  
  
Xander only smiled back and nodded.  
****  
The sun was setting in the sky. But the change of light to dark was barely noticed by Willow and Spike. They had been together all day, talking, laughing, and well, other stuff. Willow was happy. She didn't have any worries with Spike. It was the same for Spike. At first, there were some worries about what the others would think and how their relationship would work in the long run. But soon those thing's didn't matter.  
  
When the sun had completely disappeared, Willow suddenly remembered something and started to worry again.  
  
"We have to tell the others," Willow said softly as she lay cradled in Spike's strong, pale arms.  
  
Spike nodded and replied, "first, you should get dressed. It took me a long time to see this," he lifted the sheet off of Willow's naked form, "and I don't want anyone to get a free show."  
  
Willow laughed and stole the sheet back from Spike, wrapping it around herself.  
  
"Small doses, honey, small doses," she quipped, grinning at Spike evilly. "We both know what it does to you."  
  
"If only other people could see this side of you. The tougher side of Willow. The kinky side of Willow."  
  
Spike remained lying on Willow's bed as the redhead searched through her closet.  
  
"Maybe they will with you around," she said, removing her 'lost' pink sweater from the closet floor and displaying it to Spike with an arched brow.  
  
"So that's where that went!" Spike cried.   
  
He got up and rummaged briefly through the clothes. He finally emerged, a white miniskirt in hand. Then he handed it to Willow.  
  
"You want daring?" He asked. "I think we have your outfit for tonight.  
****  
As usual, everyone gathered at Giles' house. Buffy was already there, she'd decided to cut the rest of her classes and train all day. It relaxed her. It also made both her and Giles sweaty, a fact Anya, who arrived with Xander soon after the sun set, couldn't help but comment on.  
  
"It looks like we weren't the only ones having sweaty fun today," she said bluntly.  
  
Giles got flustered and Buffy was grossed out.  
  
"Ew, Anya! It's called training," Buffy cried as she located her water bottle. "Besides Giles is way old."  
  
"Oh, you'd be surprised at how many 60 year-old men I cursed because they cheated on their 20 year old wives. The wives usually wished for their husbands to die and were extremely grateful when they did. Quite satisfying work," Anya couldn't help but share.  
  
"Keep that in mind, Giles," Xander teased playfully.  
  
"I am not 60 years old," the perturbed English man muttered as he tiptoed through the stacks of books still cluttered on the ground so he could get to the kitchen.  
  
Laughing, Buffy turned to her friends. Her face fell when she remembered the task at hand, telling Xander and Anya about Spike and Willow. She wasn't sure how they'd react. Anya, being new to the group and having never been threatened by Spike, probably wouldn't have a strong opinion on the matter. But Xander, Willow's best friend and someone who hated Spike more than Buffy, would definitely have something to say. It was hard to say what it'd be.  
  
"Guys," Buffy began. "I have to tell you something."  
  
"Something's wrong at the Initiative," Riley announced as he strode, well, stumbled into the room full of books.  
  
"And that wasn't it," Buffy mumbled, annoyed at the interruption.  
  
"All the computers are either down or not operating properly. The elevators are going haywire," Riley continued, not hearing his girlfriend's comment.  
  
"Oh dear. Are the cages for the demons okay?" Giles asked worriedly.  
  
"Thankfully, yes. And we have most of out lights intact."   
  
"That's very strange," Giles observed as he removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I guess we'll have to-"  
  
"We know the drill, Giles," Buffy interrupted. "Time to crack the books. If we can find anything in this clutter."  
  
As everyone milled off to different piles, the door opened again. In stepped Willow and Spike acting very couple-like.  
  
"Willow! You're just in time for- Why is he here? And why are you holding hands?" Xander asked, clearly angry.  
  
"We have something to tell you all," Willow started, squeezing Spike's hand for support.  
  
"No, I don't think I want to hear this," Xander said, turning away from the happy couple.  
  
"Xander! You have to listen so you can understand!" Willow cried. Spike remained silent at her side, not wanting to say something to make the situation worse, a first for him.  
  
"Nothing you can say will-"  
  
"Isn't that Hostile 17?" asked the up until now silent Riley.  
  
"Bloody hell. Matters at hand, soldier boy," answered the also formerly silent Spike.  
  
"No, I think this is the matter at hand. You're a vampire," Riley said and Xander nodded in agreement.  
  
"It looks like me, you, Giles, and Buffy weren't the only ones having lots of orgasms today," Anya said as she observed Willow's and Spike's slightly messy hair.  
  
"Not now, Anya!" Xander hissed at his girlfriend.  
  
"Wait, Giles and Buffy...?" Spike asked, voicing Willow's, Riley's, and his confusion.  
  
"Matters at hand, fangless," Xander said.  
  
"Now that was just uncalled for-"  
  
"Guys!" Buffy shouted, getting everyone's attention. "I can see why you're a little upset-"  
  
"A little?" Riley scoffed.  
  
"I was too and so was Giles-"  
  
"Giles knew about this?" Xander asked, glaring at the nervous watcher. "When did this thing," he hissed out the word thing, "begin?"  
  
"Listen to Buffy," was all Giles said in his defense.  
  
"It started this morning," Buffy said, trying desperately to help out her friend.  
  
"This morning? It doesn't look like it," Anya observed.  
  
"Anya!" This time it was Buffy to scold the ex-demon. "Let me finish. What I want to say is that: look at how happy Willow is."  
  
"She was just fine before he came back," Xander said.  
  
"No she wasn't! The lot of you were just to blind to see it!" Spike interjected.  
  
"Are you saying we're bad friends?" Xander said, wanting to storm up to the bleached vamp but instead found himself wadding through books.  
  
"I'm saying that- Willow!" Spike cried as the silent redhead suddenly fainted beside him.  
  
Now everyone rushed, well, again, as much rushing they could do through the books, to their friend who was lying limply in Spike's arms.  
  
"What the hell happened?" Spike demanded. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Again, all these characters, except a few later in this chapter, are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and all those people.  
  
Feedback: Please! Also, I'm verrrryyy grateful for the feedback I've already gotten. Thanks so much, guys!  
  
A/N: I got in a fight with my muse, one resembling the infamous Harmony/Xander fight of season four. In the end, we just kinda come to a compromise. I get a plot but the inability to write it hence this short and questionable chapter. Also, some of this will probably be confusing.  
****  
Everything was black. And then, flashes. Images that couldn't be made out. They were all lighted by a soft glow, like the one given off by candles. But it was all too fast, everything was blurred. Then it was black again. In the distance, a voice was crying out, "Willow!" and she wanted desperately to be near that voice.   
  
"Spike? Buffy? Xander? Giles??!?" Willow cried softly at first and then more desperately. They seemed so far off. She couldn't see them and their voices, so soft and faraway.   
  
"She's waking up," someone said. Recognizing the voice, Willow cried out again to her friends.  
  
"We should take her to the hospital," Giles said.  
  
"No," came a small voice from the red haired girl as her vision cleared.  
  
"Willow?" It was Spike who said this. He was kneeling by her side. At some point in her unconsciousness she'd be moved to the couch which had been cleared of all the books. Everyone was standing around her concerned.  
  
"You must get to the hospital," Giles repeated, addressing the still dizzy girl.  
  
"No," Willow stressed again, trying to sit up. "The hospital can't do anything."  
  
"Of course they can, the-they'll be able to give you medi-"  
  
"No!" Willow cried with a strength that shocked everyone around her. "You're not listening."  
  
"And you're not well," said Buffy softly.  
  
"I'm fine! Honestly. Look, this is my Resolve Face," Willow said, pointing at herself. "Besides whatever it was, I think it was supernatural."  
  
"Supernatural? Are you sure?" Giles asked, now even more concerned.  
  
"Yeah, I felt something go through me. Like a weird wave or something."  
  
"A wave of nausea, maybe? I mean, you do have a hangover or did," Buffy suggested.  
  
"You were drinking? That explains a lot," Riley muttered while glaring at the platinum pest by Willow's side.  
  
"No, it wasn't anything to do with my hangover," Willow said in a tight, annoyed voice. "It was something supernatural."  
  
"Does this mean we have to do a bunch of boring research now?" Anya asked from Xander's side. "I mean, not that I mind doing it for... um... a friend of Xander's" She added with an unusual unsureness in her words.  
  
"Yes, that would be the best thing to do. Willow, you can go upstairs to my guest room and get some rest. No objections," Giles said sternly.  
  
"You have a guest room?" Spike couldn't help but ask. "All that time spent in chained to a tub and there's a guest room! Probably has a TV in there too. Of all the..." Spike broke off when he noticed the looks he was getting. "Let me help you up the stairs, Willow."  
****  
"It didn't work!"  
  
A spell book flew across the room and slammed into a small table, knocking the candles off it onto the floor. Robed figures desperately gathered the candles before the flames could spread while dodging an onslaught of spell books, rabbit feet, jars of lizard tongues, and other magic oddities.   
  
"We'll just try again, Cullena" offered one of the figures.  
  
"It'll be okay," chimed in another.  
  
Cullena, the figure who had thrown the books, stopped for a moment and breathed.  
  
"Right," she said reasonably. "We'll try again."  
  
"Who needs that girl anyway," said a another one who was smiling moronically.  
  
This made Cullena angry again and she snatched out violently at the speaker, a short brown-haired girl named Rosa. Not that names mattered to Cullena.  
  
"You need her, you cliché twit, so you can live longer. But, much more importantly, I need her! She is one of the more powerful witches in this hellhole, literally, and she's important for us to achieve our plans."  
  
"Can I ask again, why are we doing this in the first place?" Rosa asked, undaunted by the strong hand that had her in a choke hold.  
  
"No! Your not here to ask questions, you worthless minion!" Cullena screamed and cast the shorter girl off into the corner as easily as she had done with the books.  
  
"She's getting irritable," whispered another of the girls, a blond one named Clarissa.  
  
"The people in this town aren't as weak as she hoped," whispered Reina, a black haired girl.  
  
Ringing her long red hair, Cullena paced the room. It was a pretty small room, dark walls, dark floor, and a low ceiling. It was like a cave had been cut out of it's mountain and placed in the basement of a bar. There wasn't much furnishing in the room. Cullena liked casting spells in places she considered to be neutral. The only furniture she had allowed was a pine desk that had fallen over in the earlier firing. Anything needed for a spell was allowed in the room, but nothing else. The red haired girl also insisted that it was best not to clutter the spells or ingredients as they would interfere with each other.  
  
"It's okay though, after she's eaten she won't be as cranky," Rosa said as she joined the two other girls in the corner.  
  
"It must be tough, she's never been the last one to fed," Clarissa replied without the least bit of sympathy in her voice.  
  
"I can hear you!" Cullena shrieked.  
  
"And the minions, the actual minions, upstairs can probably hear you. You know their fragile minds can't handle the noise," Reina reminded the still quivering Cullena.  
  
"Damn the minions! Oh, too late!" Cullena started to laugh a horrible cackling laughter. She didn't stop laughing until she caught the questioning looks the others were giving her. "We'll try again! The same girl."  
****  
"Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?" Spike asked tenderly as he pulled a blanket up over Willow.  
  
"Are you trying to avoid doing research or being around my friends?" Willow quipped. A smile was spread across her face, partly because of Spike's reluctance to leave and partly because of his, the Big Bad's, tenderness towards her.  
  
"You have me figured out pretty well, pet," Spike shoot back sarcastically.  
  
"Well, you know how it is- Oh!" Willow cried suddenly, clasping her hands to head. Then she crumpled on the bed.  
  
"Willow! Are you okay?"  
  
Her eyes were shut but beneath the lashes there was movement as if she was looking around. Shimmering softly through the crowds, a candle's flame danced just out of Willow's reach. It sent shadows of the robed figures around it onto the dark walls. They were chanting, the robbed figures, and their faces were covered in shadows. The only thing that could be made out was the dark gleam of their eyes. Slowly the chanting got louder and louder to an almost inhuman pitch causing Willow clasped her hands to her ears and shake her head violently. Shutting her eyes tightly, she hoped to block out the chanting and robed figures.  
  
"Willow!" She heard called through the chanting although it was in a soft, caring tone.   
  
"Spike?" Willow called softly.  
  
"Guys! Hey guys!" Spike started to call, moving towards the door.  
  
"No," Willow whispered hoarsely. "I'm okay."  
  
"But, you blacked out again and-"  
  
"I saw something," she said softly.  
  
A look of confusion crossed Spike's features.  
  
"How? You were unconscious."  
  
"I know, I know," Willow said, frustrated. "It was a dream or something. There were- I have to tell the others."  
  
"No, you can tell me and I'll pass on the message," Spike protested.  
  
"No! I have to tell them myself."   
  
Spike sighed reluctantly and said, "Okay. But explain in to me first just in case..." He trailed off, not sure what to say and Willow offered no help. "Just explain to me."  
  
"Okay," Willow replied, equally reluctant. "It's going to sound very strange though." 


	4. Chapter 4

Note: This is a repost of chapter 4, there's only one small change, nothing that effects the plot any.  
  
Disclaimer: As always, all these characters, well, the majority of them, are own by the ingenious Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.  
  
Feedback: I'll willing to beg for more feedback. Here goes: preeettty pllleassee? I'm every so grateful for the ones I've gotten so please, sir, I want some more!  
  
A/N: Sorry for the slow update time. But I was up all night drinking expressos (okay, until about 10 and I'm drinking water but it's in an expresso cup!) finishing this just for my lovely reviewers. Thanks everyone!  
****  
  
Downstairs, everyone was scattered around Giles' living room, searching for a cure to help their friend. An answer, a clue, anything. They couldn't get the picture of their friend looking so fragile as she lay on the couch, trembling and sweating like she had the flu. As much as they hated to admit it, the only thing that had perked Willow up a little bit was that annoying vamp who'd sat by her side, holding her hand and slowly stroking the back of it with his finger. An action, the Scoobies assumed, he'd wanted to go unnoticed since he'd tried to hide it as much as possible. But they all saw it. Anya almost said something until Xander shoot her the look. Now their friend was upstairs with that very vampire, probably still trembling and looking fragile.  
  
"I wish we had more to go on," Buffy said listlessly, not really expecting an answer. "A spell, yeah, we're on a Hellmouth, everyone here can do spells."  
  
"I know what you mean but we have to try," Giles said, trying to look hopeful. "Maybe we'll get a sudden revelation and everything will be clear."  
  
Buffy looked at her watcher and replied, "or maybe the demon that did this will show up and I can kick his ass into a demon-y pulp."  
  
"Are we sure it's a demon doing all this?" Spike asked as he appeared at the top of the stairs, a dazed looking Willow leaning on his side.  
Everyone turned to them hopefully.   
  
"I blacked out again," Willow started delicately. "But this time I saw something. It was like a dream, I guess. When I was unconscious. There were robbed figures and candles. It was in a dark, gloomy room and they were all chanting."  
  
"Were the faces male or female?" Giles questioned.  
  
"Female. But the features weren't very clear. I think they had black eyes."  
  
"Sounds like witches to me," Xander said and then quickly amended. "Bad witches, Will, not like you."  
  
"So we're back to square one," Buffy said hopelessly. "Any demon could easily take a human form and do a spell or two."  
  
"A demon in human clothing," Riley mused.  
  
"Well, not all demons can. So at least we've narrowed it down," Giles said.  
  
Buffy furrowed her brows in concentration then turned to Anya suddenly and asked, "Anya, can you think of any specific demons that can take human form and perform spells?"  
  
"Well, most vengeance demons can," Anya informed them.  
  
"Willow, who'd you piss off?" Xander asked playfully.  
  
"I think we can pretty much rule vengeance demons out of the mix," Buffy said.  
  
"No, no, no," Willow put in quickly. She and Spike were standing amongst the piles of books now with the others. Spike had carried her down the stairs in a style that resembled a groom carrying his bride into their first house, something that all the Scoobies noticed uneasily. "How would you know, Buffy? Maybe I picked a fight with someone or-or jilted a lover."  
  
"Not me, of course," Spike chimed from her side. "But Willow can be wild."  
  
Simulteaneously, everyone besides Spike and Willow shook an unwelcomed image from their minds.  
  
"Still not buying the whole someone-siking-a-demon-on-Willow scenario," Xander said.  
  
"Plus, vengeance demons usually work solo. You said there were a few of them. Wait," Anya said with palpable excitement. "How many figures were there, exactly?"  
  
Willow wrinkled her forehead in thought.  
  
"It was kinda hard to tell," she replied. "A big blur, you know? But I'm thinking there were four."  
  
"The Sirenial Sisters! Why didn't I think of that earlier?" Anya exclaimed.  
  
"Of course!" Giles cried, rushing to a stack of books and hurriedly digging through them.  
  
"So we know these sisters?" Buffy asked cluelessly.  
  
"They're demons. Similar to vengeance demons, they were mortal a long time ago. They were witches, actually, during the Salem witch trails," Anya said.  
  
"And unlike the innocent people of those times, they, the actual witches, weren't burned," Xander said then, seeing Willow's disgust, added, "again, they're bad witches, Willow, not like you."  
  
"That's the thing, they were put on trail and found guilty, like many people were, but because they were actual witches, they got away," Giles paraphrased the book in his hand.  
  
"Then they used their powers to torment the people who tormented them," Anya continued.  
  
"So they are vengeance demons?" Spike asked the question everyone was wondering.  
  
"Well, not in the strictest sense," said the knowledge filled watcher as he prepared to explain what he meant.  
  
"They're ex-vengeance demons," Anya clarified. "D'Hoffryn did turn them into demons but they didn't conform to the rules."  
  
"You guys have rules? I thought it was just hear wish, grant wish, and leave," Buffy said.  
  
"Those are the basic rules," continued the ex-demon. "And the Sirenial Sisters refused to wield to them. Whenever they were summoned, they would stay as long as they could after granting the wish to wreak havoc. Finally D'Hoffryn got so perturbed at their unwillingness to compel, he stripped them of their vengeance titles. Then he put them in what mortals call a prison for all eternity."  
  
"Harsh," Xander mused. "Why didn't he just make them mortal?"  
  
"And how did they get out?" Buffy asked.  
  
"And what do they want with Willow?" Spike questioned.  
  
Anya waved her hand in annoyance at the barrage of questions.  
  
"Hold on!" She cried and then turned to Xander. "Xander, D'Hoffryn kept them demons so they could live forever with their mistakes. Buffy," she looked to the blonde girl. "I'm not positive about how they escaped their cells. There are spells but you either have to be a really good witch or a complete idiot to do them."  
****  
"Where's that divine help we were chanting for?" Karen asked as she stood behind a table covered in baked goods and warming lemonade.  
  
"You didn't think it would actually work, did you?" Charlotte scoffed while rearranging the cookies yet again, hoping to attract customers. "I mean, did you even look at the book we were using? It was all old and falling apart. Yuck, I don't know where you found that anyway."  
  
"My grandma gave it to me. My mother," Karen replied, stressing the word mother with distaste. "Told her I was a Wicca and she insisted on giving it to me."  
  
"Well, the spell didn't work. This bake sale is going nowhere," Charlotte whined. "Some people choose not to even show up."  
  
"Yeah, where's that Tara girl? Did she finally find some other people to play clinging puppy dog for? It's about time." Karen laughed wickedly.  
  
"Maybe the spell did work and it was to get her off our backs," Charlotte hissed and joined in Karen's laughter.  
  
"It's people like her that give Wiccans a bad name," Karen replied. "And that red head that came to one of our meetings. They are the kind of people who would think our summoning spell would actually work."  
****  
"Again, I ask, where does Willow fit into all of this?" Spike prodded Anya.  
  
"I- I don't know what they want with Willow," Anya's tone suddenly went from all-knowing to slightly unsure. "I mean, this has never happened before."  
  
"It sucks to be original," Xander muttered.  
  
"There are certainly no precedents for this," Giles said as he flipped through yet another book.  
  
"Does that mean we're dealing with major witches here? I mean, they have to be pretty powerful to raise the Sirenial Sisters, right?" Buffy asked, a hint of worry stiff creeping into her composed voice.  
  
Crossing Giles, who was busily searching his trusty texts, Anya plopped onto the couch in a sign of desperation.  
  
"Witches are the most likely culprits," she said. After seeing the proud gleam in Xander's eyes when she was encyclopedia girl, Anya wanted desperately to know the solution and help the mortals he was friends with. If only she was more into gossip during her demon days, she might have heard something.  
  
"Willy's!" Anya cried and leapt up to reinforce the exclamination. "You know, that two-faced rodentlike man who Buffy beats up for information that Xander told me about."  
  
"Sounds good," Buffy said, happy to have something to do. "I'll ask if he's heard about any powerful mojo going on. Riley, you coming?"  
  
Her brunette boyfriend turned to her. "Hold on. Quick question, what are the Sirenial Sisters doing to the Initiative?"  
  
Spike almost made a snide comment at this but Willow softly squeezed his hand, hoping for patience.  
  
"Again, I'm not positive," Anya said.  
  
"It's okay. You guys do the research thing and we'll compare notes when we're back from Willy's," said Riley as he and Buffy opened the door to leave.  
  
"Get better, okay Willow?" Buffy requested gently before they exited.  
  
Once the slayer and the soldier had left, everyone returned to the piles. They all seemed a little grave even though they tried to hide it. There was an uncomfortable silence only disturbed by the scraping sound of stale pages turning.  
  
"Maybe there's a spell I can do. A locator spell or at least a protection spell," Willow said softly.  
  
"Are you really up for doing a spell?" Spike asked.  
  
"Hey," the offended Willow said. "I restored Angel's soul while in a hospital bed."  
  
"She's good," Xander commented.  
  
"Angel's soul? I'm sorry to say but, not your finest work," Spike couldn't help but say.  
  
"What we need to figure out how they got out in the first place," Giles interjected before a fight could break out. "Then we can maybe find a binding spell to fit the circumstances."  
  
"Aren't there guards at that prison?" Xander asked.  
  
"There should be. If there happens to be trouble in the demon dimension they were in then the watch might be reduced," Anya informed them.  
  
"So there's trouble in demon paradise? Then these witches or whoever came along, did some chanting, and..."  
  
"Down came the prison walls," Spike finished Xander's sentence.  
  
"Would we just be able to do a reversal spell? You said a spell brought them here so couldn't another put them back where they were?" Willow asked hopefully.  
  
"In theory it should work. It's probably quite a complex summoning spell so it might not work," said Giles with caution, not wanting to rain on anyone's parade.  
  
"Great!" Willow said excitedly while trying to raise from her seat on the couch. "Spike, we can go to-"  
  
"You're not going anywhere," Giles said sternly. "Anya and Spike can go."  
  
"Relax, Red, we got it covered," Spike reassured Willow who was almost frantic to do something useful. Her kissed her on the forehead before an equally frantic watcher pushed him towards the door.  
  
"Here's a spell book and some money. Anya, find a reversal spell or binding spell or- or whatever looks like it'd help on your way to the magic shop," Giles said, in commander mode. "Xander and I will, as you say, hold down the fort until we reconvene here." 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Most of these characters are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.  
  
Feedback: Please, sir, I want some more.  
  
A/N: Sorry to any Wiccans who may be reading this and may get offended by my constant reference to animal parts being magical items. As can easily be told, I know close to nothing about magic so I'm mostly making it up. Enjoy!  
****  
  
The bar was quiet. And unusually empty for such a popular demon hangout. Only a few people milled about aimlessly, all females who looked dazed. And human. Willy looked equally dazed except for his jerky movements while cleaning some glasses, movements that showed his worry. When he saw Buffy and Riley approaching, his worry and fear increased to a suspicious amount.  
  
"Hey, uh, if you're looking for a snitch, I don't got much to tell," Willy said nervously, his eyes flicking back and forth across the room.  
  
"Willy, Willy, Willy. Maybe we're just here for a drink," Buffy said casually as she slipped into a stool.  
  
"Well, you'd be the first in days. I haven't been gettin' much business lately meaning that I haven't heard much," he continued almost frantically cleaning the glass in his hand. A scuffling noise was heard from downstairs. The suddenly, a glass slipped out of his grip and shattered on the ground. Buffy and Riley jumped at the sudden noise but Willy remained calm. The people around them, on the other hand, clutched their ears violently. Ignoring the frightened females, Willy laughed nervously and said "Whoops."  
  
"So you haven't heard much lately?" Riley continued the interrogation.   
  
"No, I swear on the deed to my bar," Willy insisted again.  
  
"Think he's telling the truth?" Riley asked casually.  
  
"I don't know, I guess we'll have to make sure," Buffy replied as she grinned wickedly and cracked her knuckles.  
****  
"Or-or we could do this one," Anya suggested, pointing to a spell in the book as she walked beside Spike.  
  
"Anya, you already pointed that one out. And again, turning the witches' fingers into snakes may be humorous but will ultimately only make them angrier," Spike explained patiently, a patience normally not seen in him.  
  
"I'm not sure what to do. Giles does the research! I was just trying to be helpful. Didn't know it'd be so hard."  
  
They turned the corner, keeping a quick pace to get to the Magic Box, Sunnydale's best place for evil demons to purchase items to terrorize the town with, at half the price of those chain stores!   
  
"Yeah, it's hard being on the opposite of the moral continuum," Spike commented, taking the book from Anya's hands. "But we have to help Willow. I thought you said a binding or reversal spell might help."  
  
"Under most circumstances, they would but these aren't most circumstances. The Sirenial Sisters have never escaped before. I don't know if normal spells will be able to defeat them when they're at full strength."  
  
"When?"  
  
"Well, I imagine they'll need time to collect their energies. They were in the prison for a long time."  
  
The sound of a ringing bell announced Spike and Anya's presence in the Magic Box.  
  
"We're here," Spike pointed out the obvious. "Without a spell."  
  
"We can just buy everything that looks useful. You never know when sheep eyes may come in handy," Anya replied, perusing the shelves.  
  
"This is the watcher's money. We can't just spend it all and-" Spike stopped and thought about what he just said. "Who am I kidding? We'll buy the whole shop. Something in here's gotta help."  
  
Spike and Anya dispatched about the store and pulled anything that looked helpful off the shelves. They ended up, much to the store manager's delight, with their arms full of many different magical items. Items ranging from newt's tongue to rosemary leaves. Shifting the load back and forth between their arms, they look at each other nervously.  
  
"One of these things better work," Spike snarled through the chicken's feet clinched in his teeth for lack of better places to put it.  
  
"Giles will never need to visit the Magic Box again," Anya observed while attempting to balance the spell book on her head.  
  
"And the store owner will never go hungry," Spike said as he unloaded his purchases onto the counter for the clerk to ring up.  
  
"Yes and- oh!" Anya cried suddenly, dropping the items she was attempting to place on the counter.  
  
Jars of snake skins, rodent noses, and other parts of animals smashed on the floor. A shriek was heard from the front of the shop where a blond girl had just entered.  
  
"Sorry," Anya apologized as she knelt to pick up the shards of glass.  
  
Spike stooped down beside her and helped pick up the pieces. "What happened?" He asked.  
  
"You break it, you buy it," the store clerk informed them as he looked down in worry at the mess.  
  
"That's fine," Anya replied. "We won't need much of the rest of this." She glanced quickly at Spike and then at the pile. Without explanation, she began picking through it, pulling out a few different items and pushed the rest aside. Then she leaned forward and whispered something into the clerk's ear. He nodded and pulled a spell book off a shelf and placed in on the counter. "That is all we need. And the broken items."  
  
"Thank you," the clerk said as he rung up Anya's selection. Anya exchanged money for the bag and turned to leave.  
  
"Watch where you're going," growled Spike, who wasn't in the mood for interruptions when the blond girl who'd shrieked, bumped into him.  
  
The dazed girl didn't reply, instead she put some items on the counter without acknowledging the vampire.  
  
"Bloody Americans, no manners," he commented bitterly.  
  
" 'Watch where you're going' wasn't a polite thing to say," Anya observed in her blunt way.  
  
"I'm a vampire. I have an excuse," he glanced briefly back to glare at the girl who waited as if in a trance for her purchase to be rung up.  
  
"I h-have to get back soon," she was saying. "I don't want them to get angry at me."  
  
Turning back to her, Spike noticed that Anya, too, was looking at the girl.  
  
"She's very strange," Anya said as she pushed open the door.  
  
"Yeah," Spike agreed, following her lead. "So what was with the freak out in the store?"  
  
"I thought of a spell to help your girlfriend," She replied simply. She dug through the bags in her hand and pulled out the book she'd purchased. "Demon Binding Spell. It puts demons back in their former dimensions, if they have one. It takes a lot of power, though, more depending on how powerful the demons are." She continued, pointing to a page.  
  
"Think Willow can handle it?" Spike asked seriously.  
  
"In her weakened state, performing a complex spell like this will be difficult but we might as well try."  
****  
"Willow," Xander implored softly.  
  
The weak girl turned her friend who was kneeling beside the couch.  
  
"Mm?" She mumbled.  
  
There was a sudden sound of falling from the floor above them followed by Giles shouting, "I'm alright!"  
  
"I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry about what I said earlier. You know, about your choice of men," Xander apologized.  
  
"It's okay," Willow replied softly.  
  
"Well, it's just that, I feel protective of you sometimes," Xander continued on despite Willow's acceptance of his apology. "Especially recently with all the stuff that's been happening."  
  
"Do you mean with the spells and stuff?"  
  
"No, before that. When you were hurting after... I just wanted to make sure you weren't making a mistake because of your grief."  
  
Willow softly placed her hand on Xander's.  
  
"I'm happy," she said. "Well, I was happy then all of this happened."  
  
"Yeah, you have been getting pretty rotten breaks lately."  
  
"Mostly," Willow whispered and smiled at her best friend.  
  
As if on cue, Buffy and Riley burst in the door to break the tender moment.  
  
"Anything new?" Xander questioned them.  
  
"Nah, Willy's was a bust. We went by the Initiative after but nothing there's changed," Riley informed them.  
  
"How are things here?" Buffy asked as she took the spot vacated by Xander during her entrance.  
  
"Not much; Anya and Spike are at the Magic Box getting supplies for a spell," Xander said. "And Giles is upstairs looking for a book or something."  
  
"The Magic Box is open this late?" Riley asked and looked to a clock. It was about 9:00, only hours ago, all this began.  
  
Xander shrugged. "Night is a lively time for Sunnydale, why not?"  
  
Just then, Giles made his way downstairs to join the others.  
  
"Buffy, Riley, any news?" He asked.  
  
"Nothing," Buffy said flatly.  
  
"Well, whenever Anya and Spike return we can try the spell they picked out and hope it works." 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: Most of these characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.  
  
Feedback: Please!  
  
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. Hope you guys haven't lost interest because of the wait! Or just because the story is so terrible, that wouldn't be good either. Anyway, I saw (took me long enough) that the villains in my story very closely resemble Glory so I've been working to change that. These changes may not be seen in this chapter but hopefully they will be there. I hope you enjoy!  
****  
  
Glancing nervously back and forth, Willy cautiously made his way to the door in the back corner of his bar. After tapping softly on it, Willy opened the door which revealed some rickety stairs leading down to a basement.  
  
"The coast is clear," Willy called down the stairs.  
  
No answer.  
  
"Oh right," he mumbled then tried again, "hey, they're gone!"  
  
Then he heard movement and two women appeared, a red haired one and one with black hair.  
  
"What or who was it?" asked the black haired one, Reina.  
  
"It was the slayer and her soldier boy toy," Willy informed them.  
  
"Slayer?" the confused Reina asked and looked to her sister who offered no help.  
  
"Yeah, you know, the Chosen One. She kills demons and all that goes bump in the night. I think you've been practicing voodoo on her friend," Willy explained.  
  
"And you let her in?" Cullena hissed, her brown eyes clouding over. She grabbed the short man by the throut. "Did you tell her anything?"  
  
"No, no, I swear. See this blood?" Willy asked, pointing to a cut on his right temple. "Or the bruise you're squeezing? That's what I got."  
  
Cullena released her grasp and suddenly started stroking the man's hair. "Poor, poor boy."  
  
"Oh, but hey, your eyes went all black. That means your spell worked, right? And you got your magic back in full strength so you'll be leaving soon, right?" Willy suggested hopefully.  
  
Removing her hand from his hand, Cullena instead began clutching at her own throat.  
  
"Sadly, no, boy," she cooed. "I have the girl's magical power but although it's a lot, I still need her- Tara!"  
  
Suddenly seized with excitement, Cullena rushed over to the new arrival and hugged her.  
  
"She treats the minions better than her own sisters," Reina muttered to no one in particular.  
  
"My dear, sweet Tara, do you have the supplies?" Cullena asked hopefully as she led the dazed girl to where Reina and Willy still stood.  
  
Tara nodded and produced a bag which Cullena clasped with more excitement then she had the girl who gave it to her. Then she held it in front of Willy and said, "this. These supplies, which we ran out of working on that red head, will get us out of you bar. We'll cast up our spell then be on our way." She was nodding furiously and shaking the bag. "These supplies will help me steal that stupid red head's soul. Then we'll be at full power for the rest of our plans."  
****  
The books in Giles' living room had all been cleared off to different corners. Willow was sitting up on the couch with a blanket gathered around her. She shivered occasionally and Buffy, who was sitting between her and Riley, would pat her affectionately and bring her things like tissues when needed. Xander was seated on the floor by the couch flipping through yet another book. Giles was also looking at a book in a chair near the head of the room. This is how they were all arranged when Anya and Spike walked in, looking too cozy with each other in Xander's opinion, holding a bag of magical items. Anya smiled and rushed over to her jealous, gave him a quick kiss, and then proceeded to deposit the bag in Giles' hands. Meanwhile, Spike, much to the annoyance of the others, made a spot for him on the couch next to Willow by simply pushing Buffy to the side.  
  
"Here are the items we purchased," Anya explained as she presented the bag to Giles. "And this," she continued and pulled out the spell book from the bag, "is the book that contains the spell we have to perform. And this is the spell."  
  
Giles took the book from Anya's hand, who smiled with pleasure at the good deeds she'd done and found a spot next to Xander. After carefully inspecting the page and adjusting his glasses, Giles looked up at the hopeful faces around him. Well, they were mostly hopeful faces. Buffy and Riley's faces mostly mirrored the annoyance they felt at being squeezed together on a loveseat with one of their sworn enemies.  
  
"Well," he began finally. "This spell is going to take a lot of power, Willow. You're sure you can do it?"  
  
"Let me look at it," Willow commended with confidence.  
  
The book was circulated ceremoniously across the room and ended up in the hands of the sickly witch. An uncomfortable silence followed as Willow inspected the page, her face scrunched up in concentration.  
  
"So," began the impatient vampire at her side, "can you do it?"  
  
"Yes," Willow said firmly, her resolve face on. "Yes, I can."  
  
"We'll have to clear an area to perform the spell in," Giles commended and grabbed one edge of the couch.   
  
The people on the couch, including Willow with Spike's assistance, got up and dispatched about the room. Buffy remained to lift the opposite end of the couch. Without a signal to do so, they quickly lifted the couch and moved it as far back as they could. Similar rituals were done with the other furniture in the room leaving a large, carpeted area for the spell to be done in.  
****  
Quick, put all the furniture back in it's place," Cullena ordered referring to the single table that inhabited the room.  
  
Clarissa followed the orders without assistance then shot Reina an annoyed glance.  
  
"She'll be nicer once she has her soul," Reina whispered as she candles scattered about from Cullena's latest tantrum.  
****  
"Here, we have to form a circle with the candles," Willow explained.  
  
"Wait, question," Xander said while raising his hand as if he was in a class room. "Who's going to work the spell? I mean, we have one witch and we need three..."  
  
"A bird in hand is better than two in the bush," Riley informed them out of nowhere.  
  
Everyone turned and looked at the corn-fed Iowa boy who just shook his head.  
  
"I just meant that, at least we have... How about Anya helps? And most of you have at least chanted some Latin before. Anyone could do it," Riley offered.  
  
"Well, I can help with it but it's rather complex," Giles said thoughtfully.  
  
"We don't really have much choice," Buffy stated.  
****  
"We've done this spell a million times! Or, well, at least five. You know what to do!" Cullena screamed as her sisters scrambled around the small room in preparation.   
  
She was already seated in the middle of a circle of candles, waiting impatiently for her incompetent sisters to get in their spots.  
  
Soon, all four of the Sirenial Sisters were in their required places, ready to begin.  
****  
In Giles' living room, a circle had formed consisting of Anya, Giles, and about a dozen candles had formed around Willow. Everyone else stood off to the sides awkwardly. They felt useless while watching their friends prepare. Buffy and Spike kept asking if there was anything they could do or perhaps maim. Meanwhile, Riley shifted back and forth and kept muttering things inaudible to anyone. The only one of the four not involved in the spell doing something was Xander. He kept asking if he could get anything and would run off to retrieve it before getting a reply.  
  
Finally, everyone, even Xander, got settled to watch the spell.  
  
"Okay, this is going to take a lot of concentration so nobody distract me or else," Willow warned, glaring directly at Spike.  
  
In response, Spike shrugged nonchalantly then smirked wickedly.  
  
"We're ready," Willow said calmly after rolling her ever-optimistic green eyes at her platinum counter part.  
  
Dutifully, Giles picked up the spell book and began slowly chanting come Latin. The flames from the candles quivered as Anya and Willow joined. Their eyes closed together but somehow, even without the book, they knew what to say. Spike, Buffy, and Riley looked on uneasily as the spell seemed to over take the casters and the flames danced violently about.  
****  
"It's working!" Cullena screamed over her sisters' chanting. Despite the shudder she felt momentarily run through her body, she knew that it was almost over  
****  
A warm feeling was filling Willow's body. A rush of excitement made her dizzy. The flames and the chanting were engulfing her. Then, suddenly, something hit her. It wasn't a physical force but it was like something cutting her off from the world. She gasped, her head pounding.  
  
"Not again," someone said as Willow collapsed onto the floor, her hair splaying about her like a halo. Except this time, Anya and Giles also collapsed.  
****  
The flames died down. Silence followed as her sisters waited anxiously for the red-haired witch to open her eyes. Cullena sat meditating on the power she felt now. She opened her eyes finally to reveal the blackness that still hung in them. But slowly that blackness faded and a stunning green color took it's place.  
  
"It worked," she whispered softly, an evil grin spreading across her glowing face. 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Again, as always, most of these characters are not of my own thinking but instead are the creation of Joss Whedon.  
  
Feedback: How many times need I emphasize this? Please Read and Review!!!!!  
  
A/N: Since it took so long for the last part of this to be put up, I decided to add another chapter, something with a very cliff-hangery ending. Also, fag means cigarette in British and snogging means kissing or making out, for anyone who doesn't know. Enjoy!  
****  
  
"Now what happened?" Spike asked with a mixture of concern and annoyance in his voice when Willow's eyes fluttered open. He had rushed to her side and almost set the room on fire by knocking some candles over.  
  
"Are you okay, honey?" Xander cooed in an affectionate tone rarely heard by the other Scoobies. He too was at his lover's side gently stroking her hair.   
  
With a start, Anya woke up and quickly backed away from the others.  
  
"You, man," she hissed, glaring at Xander and pressing her self against a wall in attempt to get as far away from him as possible.  
  
"Yes, good Anya. Me, man; you, women," Xander said steadily as if addressing a wild animal.  
  
"And beer bad," Buffy couldn't help but add.  
  
Ignoring the blond girl's comment, Anya continued glaring at the man who had called her sweetie.  
  
"I ought to liquefy your entrails and your 'instrument' for touching me like that," Anya threatened.  
  
"That's something I'd like to see."  
  
Everyone turned from the fuming ex-vengeance demon to their tweed clad friend who'd just woken up and said this out-of-character comment. With that, Giles jumped up, pulling away from Buffy and Riley's concerned looks.  
  
"Anyone got a fag?" Giles asked casually, ignoring the bewildered looks he was receiving. Spike was the only one to regain quickly enough to pull out a box of cigarettes and his lighter to toss them to the ex-Liberian.  
  
"Thanks, mate," Giles said as he put the cigarette to his lips and lit it up. "So," he began after taking a slow drag on the cigarette during which everyone was too confused to say anything. "Who are all you people?"  
  
"That's what I'd like to know," Anya muttered.  
  
"What about you, Willow, do you remember who we are?" Spike asked the silent girl.  
  
Willow didn't respond. She seemed to be in a haze which was suddenly broken when she jumped up and backed away.  
  
"I can't be here," she whispered.  
  
"Willow, you're shaking," Spike observed with concern. He moved towards the frightened girl who flinched at his touch. But an idea seemed to form in her mind and she complied to the worried vampire, allowing him to take her in his arms.  
  
"See what they're doing?" Xander asked Anya. "We use to do that."  
  
"I don't hug men, I torture them," Anya spat.  
  
"Sounds alright to me as long as you don't come near me with your laser vision or what-have-you," Giles said. By now he'd moved to a cupboard continuing a variety of liquor.  
  
"Have you been faithful to the women you've dated?" Anya asked, advancing towards Giles.  
  
"Depends on what 'being faithful' entails. By the way, does any one know where I can find some decent clothes?" Giles questioned while pouring some whiskey for him and 'the lady in red' as he called Anya while handing her a glass.  
  
"Oh no, new clothes, you know what that means?" Buffy asked, wide-eyed.  
  
"Giles actually owns other clothes than that tweed suit?" Riley suggested.  
  
"Something went wrong with the spell," Xander said flatly while watching his girlfriend chugging down some whiskey with an ex-Liberian.  
****  
"Now that the spell finally worked, we can start working on our plan," said the glowing Cullena.  
  
"And that is again?" Rosa cautioned to ask.  
  
"Normally a question as dimwitted as that would make me very angry but as it so happens, I'm feeling benevolent. The plan is," Cullena paused for dramatic effect, her newly green eyes glittering, "to take over the world."  
  
"That's it?" exclaimed Rosa who was disappointed with the anti-climax.  
  
"Yes," Cullena said, resisting the urge to scream. "But first, we need to help out the people who summoned us here."  
  
After gathering her sisters to her side, Cullena made her way up the bar stairs. Before opening the door, she cautiously tapped on it then pressed her eye up to the wood. It took a moment but soon a tap was heard on the other side of the door.  
  
"Let's go take over the world," Cullena laughed as she opened the door, possibilities spreading out before her.  
****  
"What could have happened?" Buffy whispered to Riley, Xander, and Spike who she'd gathered into the kitchen with her. Anya and Giles, meanwhile, were talking over drinks in a manner resembling plotting. And, after reluctantly being left by Spike, Willow found herself lying on the couch and looking dazed, again.  
  
"Well, it appears that the spell being cast on Willow was cast again while we were performing our spell," Xander observed.  
  
They turned to the brown-haired boy, disbelief on all of their faces.  
  
"What? I can't be the smart one every so often?" Xander asked, offended.  
  
"Sorry, Xander, but-"  
  
"We're beginning to suspect that the spell messed with you too," Spike finished for Buffy.  
  
"Hey!" Xander exclaimed.  
  
"Boys, boys,' Buffy intervened.  
  
"Matters at hand," Riley put in despite Spike's glare.  
  
"So what you're saying, Xander, is that since two spells were cast at the same time, they screwed the other one up," Buffy said to get back to the subject.  
  
"Well, it depends. Like maybe the spell on Willow was finished before ours so the casters weren't effected," Xander explained.  
  
"So because we were casting a spell to put the demons back in their former dimension," Spike supplied.  
  
"Anya and Giles became their former selves," Buffy finished. "A vengeance demon and a, um, bad boy."  
  
Spike stifled a laugh at hearing about the stuffy watcher's former self.  
  
"What about Willow? I mean, you said she use to be, um." The always polite Riley was at a loss for words.  
  
"A geek?" Xander offered.  
  
"Yeah, that, and she doesn't seem any geekier just... dazed," Riley continued.  
  
"And shouldn't Anya be in demon world right now?" Xander asked.  
  
"Well, it's not like she has her demon powers back or at least it doesn't look like she does," Spike observed.  
  
"Someone should test her," Riley said.  
  
They all looked blankly at one another.  
  
"That would mean..." Buffy cautioned.  
  
"Someone would have to cheat on their girlfriend. But not me," Xander finished.  
  
"Why not you, whelp boy?" Spike exclaimed.  
  
"We are testing my girlfriend, the one with amnesia."  
  
"Right, then who has to do it?" Buffy asked, frustrated that they were getting no where.  
  
Riley and Xander exchanged glances then turned to Spike.  
  
"Oh, bloody hell, why me?"  
  
"You are immortal, Spike, she can't hurt you," Xander explained.  
  
"Unless Willow wishes to set me on fire!"  
  
"No, we'll tell her what to wish for," Riley said.  
  
"Still, I couldn't do that to her," Spike confessed.  
  
"Fine, Buffy will make the wish but that means I'll have to kiss Willow," Riley volunteered, hoping Spike would take the bait.  
  
"Like hell you will," Spike said quickly and grabbed Buffy in his arms.  
  
"Wait! Wait!" Buffy shouted. "I don't like this plan.!"  
  
"Come on, Slayer, it's not like we haven't snogged before," Spike said, still holding onto the squirming girl.  
  
"Wait, what have I missed?" Riley asked angrily.  
  
"Guys!" Xander hissed before anything else could be said. "Anya is looking at us suspiciously."  
  
After noting the look on Anya's face, Buffy turned to her friends and said, "fine. Xander, get Willow and tell her what to do."  
  
Xander nodded and went over to the still dazed girl who hadn't yet taken any notice to the cluster of people in the kitchen. He whispered something into her ear. Her expression didn't change as she turned to Spike and Buffy in a tight embrace.  
  
"Say something," Riley urged to the uncomfortable-looking pair.  
  
"Oh, Spike, sweetie," Buffy cried as she held a grimace.  
  
"Oh, Buffy, I know you're not my girlfriend but you're, um, just too hot to resist," Spike stuttered out then added, "here goes nothing."  
  
What followed was one of the most awkward kisses in history. As suave as Spike tried to act, his lips were tightly clenched together during the it as were Buffy's. When they broke apart, both had disgusted looks on their faces but they tried to continue acting coupley.  
  
After witnessing this kiss, Xander poked Willow to tell her she was up. And evil smirk that had never before plagued the sweet girl's face began forming.  
  
"Anyanka, avenger of scorned women, I wish that my deceitful lover will spontaneously combust!" Willow commended.  
  
Spike's face dropped as the demon turned towards him, a look of angry on her face.  
  
"Done." 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: As usual, the majority of these characters are owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.  
  
Feedback: I want some more, please!  
  
A/N: Quick Note: Cullena- red haired, Reina- black haired, Clarissa- blonde, Rosa- brunette. Also, for story sake, Willow has told Buffy more about the Wiccan group she went to in 'Hush' than it showed. Willow has also at least mentioned Tara to her.  
****  
  
The flames rose up quickly. They engulfed everything around them in a matter of seconds leaving only a dust.  
  
"What'd you do to my basement?!?" Willy shouted as he stared with disbelief down his basement stairwell. He could see the flames lapping everything up hungrily from where he stood.   
  
"Sorry, Willy," Cullena tossed back with much grief to the distraught barkeeper. "We had to get rid of the evidence for you sake and, of course, our own."  
  
"So you resorted to pyrotechnics? Doesn't that seem like overkill maybe?" Willy asked, his voice full of rage. "Couldn't you just do a spell or something? You're back at full power after all!"  
  
"But fire is just so much more entertaining," Reina laughed.  
  
"You can call someone to put it out after we're gone," Cullena said quickly.  
  
"It'll be too late," Willy muttered as he knelt on the ground in an act of desperation.  
  
Instead of consoling the broken man, Cullena turned to her sisters.  
  
"Let us gather the minions. The first stop is to help the witches who helped us," she informed them.  
  
"What about the red head?" Clarissa asked as she linked arms with Tara, the witch with the same hair color who's power she'd drained. Tara, like Willow, had taken a few attempts on the Sirenial Sister's part to steal the soul and power out of. While all the witches the sisters had preyed on were powerful, they wouldn't have been targeted if they weren't, none compared to Tara and that damn red head. Except for one brunette witch that they'd finally deemed it impossible to drain her. "She must not be human if we can't drain her," Cullena had said finally. Of course, Cullena didn't *actually* know the brown- haired witch wasn't human, but if she ever saw the girl's wiggley pink nose, long tail, and hair covered body, she could have figured it out.   
  
"She'll be able to find us on her own. The others did," Cullena said and motioned to the three dazed minions, who had all linked arms with the women who had drained them. "For now, we'll have to continue our plan without her."  
****  
"Done!" Anya screamed again in frustration. "Burst into flames already, damnit!"  
  
Hearing these words, Spike slowly opened his firmly shut eyes.   
  
"Wait a minute..." he muttered.  
  
He first looked down at his hands. "Still here, not dust," he thought aloud. Then he looked to the demon who'd tried to dust him for good. "Your face," he said in astonishment, "it's not all scaly. You don't have your powers! I'm alive! Metaphorically speaking. I'm- wait a minute!"  
  
Suddenly, Spike flew forward, knocking Xander to the ground and grabbing hold of Xander's neck. In the same moment, Spike grabbed his own head and wailed in pain.  
  
"You tried to kill me," Spike growled. "You told Willow to wish that I'd turn crispy to the point of dustiness."  
  
"No! No!" Xander cried frantically. In his panic, he didn't remember that the muscle-packed vampire holding him down was, as Buffy fondly called it, impotent. "I just told her to wish that you'd go bald!"  
  
"Oh, well, that's... no better! Vampires can't exactly grow their hair back, you know!" Spike shouted.  
  
Remembering Spike's impairment, Xander threw the vampire off of him.  
  
"Don't you know what this means?" Xander asked.  
  
"Yeah, that when this ch- Willow!" Spike shouted, turning to the couch. "Where'd she go?"  
  
In the excitement, everyone's attention had turned to the dueling pair leaving Willow unattended. And in that short time, the sickly witch had managed to allude everyone.  
  
"There has to be something wrong with her. She wouldn't do that on her own free will," Spike said in an uncertain voice. He couldn't hide the fact that what Willow had done hurt him even though he didn't know if she meant to or not.  
  
"What's wrong with her?" Anya screamed suddenly. "What's wrong with me? Why couldn't I torch this cheating scum-bag?"  
  
"Hey!" Spike cried indignantly.  
  
"What'd you people do to me? What happened to my powers?" Anya asked desperately.  
  
"Well, hon- Anyanka," Xander said cautiously as he walked to the confused girl. "You lost them when you became human. Which you apparently still are."  
  
"Human?" Anya spat with disgust. "This isn't right. I must contact D'Hoffryn."  
  
With that, Anya stormed out of Giles' house.  
  
"Xander?" Buffy called lazily. "Follow her."  
  
"Already leaving," Xander said as he headed after his girlfriend.  
  
"Well," Giles said from off to the side. "That was entertaining. Of course, it would have been better if that guy had spontaneously combusted."  
  
At the same time, Buffy, Riley, and Spike rolled their eyes.  
  
"I can't believe my mom spelt with that guy," Buffy mumbled.  
  
"What?" Everyone else asked in alarm.  
  
"I'm not your father, am I?" Giles asked worriedly.  
  
"No, thank goodness. Go find some new clothes or something," Buffy said to get the drunken English man away from them.  
  
"So... anyway, what's the plan?" Riley asked, shaking away the disturbing image he had in his head.  
  
Sighing deeply, Buffy plopped onto the couch.  
  
"Well, I'm guessing that wherever Willow is heading, she's long gone. And I don't think any of us want to do another spell to find her," Buffy said.  
  
"Speaking of spells, we still don't know what with wrong with our last one. At least, we don't know what happened to Willow," Spike reminded them.  
  
"Well, we know that Giles and Anya were transformed by it and became their former selves. But unless Willow used to be a pyro or a psycho, she wasn't affected the same way. She was effected by a spell that we assume was cast and completed around the same time as ours but we aren't sure how. Whoa," Riley said, pausing for a breath, "that was long-winded."  
  
"Wait, Willow has been acting more and more sickly since the first time the Sirenial Sisters 'attacked' her. Maybe what was being done to her affected her magical power. So when she did the spell, she didn't actually do it," Spike offered.  
  
There was a pause after Spike's idea while Riley and Buffy processed what was just said. Then silence was finally broken by the smashing of a glass followed by "Man, I'm hammered," from Giles. The Scoobies choose to ignore this comment for the sake of their sanity.  
  
"So what you're saying is that Willow had no power at the time she cast the spell. That's why, unlike Anya and Giles, she didn't revert back to her former self," Buffy attempted to clarify.   
  
"Exactly," Spike said with a smile.  
  
"Now we just have to figure out what Willow *did* become," Buffy said.  
  
"I hate to admit it," Spike said, "but I think we need help.   
  
"What kind of help?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Like, magical help," Spike explained. "Some witches to possible do a locator spell for us."  
  
"Sounds alright to me. Do we know any- hold on," Riley said suddenly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a buzzing beeper. "The Initiative. They need me there."  
  
"Wait," Buffy whispered as she chased after her exiting boyfriend. "You're leaving me? With him?"  
  
Riley laughed and said, "sorry. But now you guys can bond. See you soon!"  
  
Buffy flashed him a murderous glare as he kissed her quickly on the cheek and made a speedy exit.  
  
"Just you and me, luv," Spike said in mock seductiveness. "Where do you want to go?"  
  
"Willow told me about a Wiccan group she went to last week. She said it wasn't that great but..."   
  
"It's worth a shot," Spike finished.  
  
"Except we don't know how to find them."  
  
"Do they live on the college campus?"  
  
"Probably," Buffy said, not seeing Spike's point.  
  
"Then I can probably find them if you know at least one of their names," Spike informed her.  
  
"Do I want to know?" Buffy asked suspiciously.  
  
"Probably not."  
  
"Good, then let's go. Giles or Ripper or whoever," Buffy addressed the drunk, "don't break anything while we're gone."  
****  
"Where are we going exactly?" Clarissa hissed.  
  
The Sirenial Sisters' fearless self-appointed leader had so far lead them around the same bench three times and a big oak tree four times.  
  
"We really *are* out of practice," Rosa grumbled when they came to an abrupt halt.  
  
Ignoring her sisters' negative comments, Cullena lifted her nose to the air and sniffed.  
  
"I think I'm picking up on something," Cullena whispered, her nose poised in the air.  
  
Three other noses lifted to the starry sky above them and sniffed hopefully. A few drunken college students walked by at this point and started laughing uncontrollably at the sight of four attractive women smelling the air.  
  
"Those stupid 'educated' boys," Rosa growled. Her eyes began to darken as plans of making a particular part of the boys' bodies resemble that of a monkey.  
  
"Wait," Reina commended, "no one can know where we are."  
  
"But..." Rosa started to argue.   
  
"I smell them," Cullena said with satisfaction.  
  
"Oh! I do too!" Clarissa cried happily.  
  
Reina and Rosa quickly put their noses into the air, hoping to get a trace.  
  
"Wait a minute..." Reina whispered suspiciously.  
  
"No, it can't be..." Rosa protested.  
  
All of their eyes turned to a long field of grass, some buildings, and a sign that read: "University of Sunnydale, California".  
  
"The college," Cullena said with a smirk on her face.  
  
"College students free us?!" Rosa shouted indignantly. "College? How can they possibly know anything about magic!"  
  
"Times have changed," Cullena reasoned. "Besides, *you* were only 16 when you mastered magic. Same for the rest of us. These collage students are probably around 21, the age I was when we became demons. And you know how good I am."  
  
Triumphantly, Cullena began walking towards the scent she was picking up. Her sisters lagged behind a minute to exchange looks of annoyance.  
  
"I was only a year younger than her," Reina muttered. "And Clarissa was 18!"  
  
"What about me? Okay, I had just mastered it but I was still good," Rose said.  
  
Reina shrugged and Clarissa avoided the brunette girl's glare.  
  
"Let's follow the leader," Reina said unenthusiastically.  
  
"Oh, sisters!" Cullena call from across the campus. "We have a visitor!" 


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry it's taken me so long to put up a new chapter. I've been writing a lot but just not for this story... sorry. I've mostly been working on stories to put up after this is done. But right now I'm not really sure how much is left. This is already a chapter longer than I originally planned it to be. Actually, it was originally only going to be one chapter but you know. Hopefully I'll get some more reviews and want to keep writing. Anyway, I hope you like it!  
****  
  
"Anya! I mean, uh, Anyanka! Hold on!" Xander called as he chased after his ex-demon girlfriend through a graveyard. 'Only in Sunnydale,' he thought to himself.  
  
"Leave me alone, you male!" Anya screamed back. "Go watch a football game or-or naked women!" 'Why is this man chasing after me? He should be doing normal male things like... acting like an animal or breaking women's hearts,' she thought.  
  
"Don't think so, I'm on official demon-sitting duty. I'm afraid you're stuck with me," Xander retorted.  
  
Anya choose to ignore this comment and kept running. Xander started noticing that they were going through some familiar territory. Not that any cemetery in Sunnydale was unfamiliar territory to a Scooby member but this seemed to bring back specific memories.  
  
'Of course!' Xander thought, 'we came here a while ago when Willow cast that spell and Anya tried to contact D'Hoffryn. Yup, there's the tomb we went to.'  
  
Quickly, Anya opened the door to the tomb, entered, and shut it to shut out Xander. Then, just as quickly, she sat down on the floor and began chanting. Suddenly, the tomb door slammed open again and this time is was Xander who came in.  
  
"Now, what did we say about casting spells without supervision, Anyanka?" Xander scolded playfully.  
  
"If you ignore him, he'll go away," Anya muttered to herself.  
  
Pressing her eyes tightly shut, Anya began chanting again. Xander, not sure how to distract her, decided to let her go through with her chant, hoping it wouldn't work. he realized while watching Anya chant that he probably should've came up with a plan.  
  
Suddenly, there was an explosion of light and Anya disappeared.  
  
"Uh-oh, Buffy's not gonna like this," Xander said, staring at the black scorch mark on the tomb floor.  
****  
"I don't like this," Buffy whispered as she watched Spike jiggle a hair pin into the college administrator's door's lock.  
  
"Don't worry, pet, I've done this before," Spike said.  
  
"Again, I don't want to know."  
  
Spike smirked as he continued wiggling the bobby pin in the door's lock. Slowly, the door eased open.  
  
"See, it worked. Last time I did this, I just kicked down the door," Spike informed Buffy as he let her enter the small room first like a gentleman.  
  
"So..." Buffy started as she looked around the dark office. "Why are we here?"  
  
"Do you know one of the Wiccan's names?" Spike asked, ignoring Buffy's question.  
  
"Um, yeah, Willow's mentioned a girl named Tara Maclay few times."  
  
"Good," Spike said as he turned on the office computer.  
  
"Oh, cracking into the computer, I get it now."  
  
"Good for you," Spike mumbled.  
  
The computer blinked on and many options were laid out before the law-breaking duo. Spike sat down in the chair in front of the computer and took the mouse. After double clicking on an icon, a window of names and room numbers popped up. During all this there was an uncomfortable silence finally broken by Buffy saying, " I still don't like you."  
  
Spike sighed loudly in annoyance and replied, "I think we covered that already."  
  
"Well, I just wanted to reinforce that point," Buffy muttered.  
  
"Tara Maclay, Room 203, Roberts Hall," Spike said triumphantly.  
  
He moved to close the window but Buffy stopped him.  
  
"Can you maybe look up Parker Abraham's room?" she asked. "I mean, not that I want to say, t.p. his room or-or anything..."  
  
Spike shot her annoyed look.  
  
"Just kidding," she laughed shyly.  
  
"Maybe later, when you like me," Spike smiled cockily.  
  
"By then I won't be bitter towards him!" Buffy cried.  
  
Spike rolled his eyes as the computer screen darkened.  
  
"Where's Roberts Hall?"  
****  
"What's the situation?" Riley asked as the elevator door opened.  
  
"Well, as you can see, the elevators are working again. And so are the lights. But the computers are now all down," Dr.Walsh, who was waiting by the doors, informed him.  
  
"Including the tracking one?" Riley asked.  
  
He was walking through the building, looking at the damage. People in uniform were running around trying to make repairs without avail.  
  
"Yes, which makes sense. It's probably the work of those witches you told me about," Dr.Walsh continued.  
  
"They'd want to cover their tracks. That kind of demon concentration would definitely show up on the tracking screen."  
  
"They've also knocked out our only way of doing research on them, the computer."  
  
"I never thought that Giles endless supply of books would be the better option for research."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Never mind. So why did you call me down here?" Riley asked.  
  
They were now standing on a balcony over-looking the many demon cages the Initiative had to offer.  
  
'They're all acting up again," Dr.Walsh murmured. "I'd like you to get a team together and track these sub-terrestrials who are messing with our computers."  
****  
There was darkness all around Anya. She couldn't tell if she was in a room or just an endless field of darkness. Then she saw movement. A robbed figure stepped out from nowhere. As the hood of the rode slide down, two large, glowing green eyes were revealed.  
  
"You again?" the figure groaned.  
  
"What do you mean, me again?" Anya fumed. "I'm Anyanka! Avenger of scorned women!"  
  
"No, you're Anya Emerson, a regular human, remember?" D'Hoffyrn said in annoyance.  
  
"Human? Human? No, I'm not human! I'm a de-" Anya stopped suddenly. "My necklace... I didn't even think to check but... it's gone."  
  
"That watcher fellow smashed it, remember? What happened to you, Anya? Don't you remember anything?"  
  
The clearly shaken girl was now sitting on the floor, rubbing her neck where her necklace once lay. A look of bewilderment was painted on her features. D'Hoffryn couldn't help but feel a stab of guilt looking at the lost girl who use to be one of his favorite demons.  
  
"Anyanka, Anyanka. We went through this already. You lost your powers and I can't give them back to you unless you earn them," D'Hoffryn explained.  
  
"Stupid rules. I didn't put boils on penises for over a thousand years for nothing!" Anya sobbed.  
  
"I'm really sorry. Rules are rules. You know what happens to those who break the rules," D'Hoffryn consoled her. "Wait! I have a way for you to earn your powers back!"  
  
Anya's eyes widened at this and she looked up hopefully at the demon.  
  
"I know you have amnesia or whatever but do you remember the Sirenial Sisters?"  
****  
"I'm glad you could make it, Willow!" Cullena cried happily as she embraced the new arrival.  
  
"Now we're complete," Reina commented when she, Clarissa, and Rose walked up to where their sister stood.   
  
"Yes... yes we are," Cullena murmured. "Let's go. The sooner we finish this the sooner we can move onto greater things."  
  
The sisters linked arms with their dazed counter parts. They began moving quickly and silently across the college campus. They passed Stevenson Hall then Bailey Hall and then they finally arrived at their destination. Roberts Hall. They didn't even need to smell the air anymore, they could just sense where they needed to go. Walking up stairs and passing doors, they finally came to the one they wanted.  
  
"We've come to answer your chants.'  
****  
"So this is Roberts Hall then?" Spike asked after an awkward walk across the campus.  
  
"Yup," Buffy replied, "lets just hope Tara doesn't think we're totally insane." 


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: I just wanted to say: Hurry for the return of Fanfiction.net! Also, for story purposes, let's say that Willow told Buffy more about the Wiccan group than was shown on the show. Also, quick reminder (it's been a while and there are a lot of names to remember): Charlotte and Karen are members of the Wiccan group.   
****  
  
Fingers fumbled over the shiny lock. A tired eye peered through a small round window in the door.  
  
"Who is it?" Karen asked lazily through the door.  
  
There were eight women, only two of whom she recognized, standing outside of her dorm door.  
  
"Don't you know?" One of the women, a red-haired one Karen didn't recognize, called.  
  
"No, should I?" Karen asked cautiously. It was pretty late at night, not in college terms but she did have a big test the next day not to mention a bake sale.  
  
The red-haired girl laughed and said, "of course, you did summon us afterall."  
  
"This is the girl who freed us?" Karen heard another of the women scoff.  
  
"So are you going to let us in?" the redhead asked again.  
  
"H-hold on," Karen stuttered and turned to her sleeping roommate. "Charlotte, Charlotte! Wake up!"  
  
The sleeping form mumbled something that was inaudible to Karen and shifted slightly.  
  
"Hello! There's someone coming up the stairs and eight women loitering out in the hall might look a little suspicious," a voice from the other side of the door informed Karen.  
  
"It's college, no one suspects anything," Karen muttered. She sighed deeply and considered her options. Something was telling her to let these women in and she wasn't sure why. "Here goes nothing."  
  
She placed her hand on the door knob and cautiously turned it. Eight women filed into her room quickly. Well, four of them were being dragged but they all entered the room nevertheless. Just as quickly, the red haired one shut the door and pressed her ear to it.  
  
"Well, it looks like we'll be able to show off our powers sooner than I thought. I'm Cullena Sirenial by the way," Cullena said when she heard voices down the hall.  
  
"Powers? What-"  
  
"Hush, they're coming," Cullena whispered, cutting Karen off.  
****  
"Room 213," Spike read off a shiny rectangle next to a dorm room door. "Room 203 must be at the other end of the hall."  
  
"It's strange, I thought I heard voices," Buffy commented.  
  
Spike didn't reply. Instead, he stopped suddenly at a random door.  
  
"That's room 208, Spike. Okay, sure, part of the 8 is rusted over but-"  
  
"Quiet," Spike cut Buffy off. He lifted his arm in a fey manner and knocked on the door.  
  
For a second, Spike thought he saw the women he loved standing in front of him when the door opened. He even sensed her near him. But the women before him just happened to have the same hair and eye color as Willow.  
  
"Yes?" the women who answered the door asked. She was fully dressed and had an unusual alertness in her voice for someone in the middle of the night. Of course, she was probably a college student so he didn't suspect anything. Behind her was a sleepy looking brunette.  
  
"Oh, um..." Spike was at a loss for words. Now that the door was opened, he wasn't sure why he wanted it open.  
  
"Cookies?" The women asked brightly, holding out a tin that was handed to her by the brunette. "Five dollars a tin."  
  
As robotically as he opened the door, Spike searched his pocket for some money. After not finding any, he turned to Buffy.  
  
"Do you have five dollars?"  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes and hissed, "we don't have time for this."  
  
"But... cookies!" Spike pleaded, he blue eyes were wide and almost innocent looking.  
  
"Spike, this is ri- wait," Buffy stopped and looked at the tin. She searched her pockets and pulled out a five dollar bill. She then swapped it for the tin and clutched it to her.  
  
"Thank you! We'll be selling more tomorrow on the campus. Feel free to come by again!" The unknown redhead said and shut the door quickly.  
  
Buffy and Spike stood there a moment in a trance and then shook their heads.  
  
"That was weird," Buffy commented.  
  
"Well, at least we got cookies out of it," Spike replied.  
  
"Right, so... room 203 then," Buffy said.  
  
"Right."  
****  
"That was weird. Who were those people?" Karen asked.  
  
"Customers," Cullena replied. "And they'll be more of them tomorrow at your bake sale, thanks to us."  
  
"Wait, we're here to help with a bake sale?" Clarissa asked. "We're vengeance demons, well, ex ones. We should be avenging things. Didn't you guys even read the spell?"  
  
There was a blank look on Karen's face and then something seemed to click in her mind. A look of understanding crossed her face.  
  
"You're the-"  
  
"Divine help you were chanting for," Cullena finished.  
  
"But... our spell didn't work. Well, it shouldn't have worked," Karen explained.  
  
"What do you mean?" Rose asked suspiciously as she moved closer to the girl. "You are a witch, right?"  
  
"Well, I prefer the term Wiccan but yeah, I mean, just look at the spice rack I have. But we were just messing around when we did the spell to summon you guys," Karen cautioned.  
  
"Just messing around?" Rose asked indignantly.  
  
"Yeah, you know, just for fun. A-Ask Charlotte," she stuttered and jabbed the still-sleeping girl's form.  
  
"What?" Charlotte muttered sleepily.  
  
"We have visitors," Karen whispered.  
  
"Tell them to go away said into her pillow as she turned away from her roommate.  
  
"Oh, you might want to be awake for this," Cullena said. "We're going to make you rich."  
****  
"Room 203," Buffy announced.   
  
She knocked on the door and waited. Nothing. After glancing doubtfully at Spike, Buffy knocked again. Nothing again.  
  
"I guess she's asleep," Buffy said.  
  
"Or she knows better than to answer the door in the middle of the night. Especially after what happened a few weeks ago," Spike suggested.  
  
"I guess."  
  
They stood together in complete silence. Well, it was almost complete silence, they were both munching on the cookies they bought recently.  
  
"I could pick the lock or just kick down the door," Spike offered after swallowing a mouthful of cookie. "I wish we had some milk."  
  
Buffy gave him an odd look which he just shrugged off.  
  
"We don't have many options," she said unhappily, lifting a hair pin up for Spike to take. "I feel bad about this. But we need help and Tara's the only name that Willow mentioned. Wait, she did mention that the Wiccan group she went to were planning a bake sale."  
  
"Kinda like the people we got these cookies from," he replied. "We should go to that."  
  
"No, Spike, you're missing the point," Buffy said with palpable annoyance. "Those women we bought the cookies from might be part of the Wiccan group Willow went to."  
  
"Buffy, do you know how many people might be having a bake sale at any given time?"  
  
"Well, it's worth-"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, it's worth a shot."  
****  
"So you guys are actual demons?" Charlotte asked carefully. "And why are Tara and Willow here?"  
  
"Yes! How many times do we need to say it?" Cullena cried, ignoring the latter question.  
  
"Well, we're sorry that it's just a little hard for us to believe that demons exist," Karen commented grumpily.  
  
"You do live in a town that's a demon hot-spot," Clarissa said, "it's hard to believe that you *don't* know they exist."  
  
"Do you need another demonstration? Ha, I love that word," Cullena smiled.  
  
"Yes, proof would be good," Karen said.  
  
"Okay, what to do, what to do," Cullena mused.  
  
She pace back and forth in a very human-like fashion, hands knitting non-existent yarn, eyebrows furrowed in thought.  
  
"Well, let's just do something small to start off with," Cullena decided.  
  
After looking briefly around the room, she pointed a finger at a large textbook lying on a desk. With a quick flick of her wrist, Cullena sent the book flying across the room.  
  
"Parlor trick," Charlotte whispered to Karen.  
  
Cullena turned quickly to the skeptical girl and made Charlotte fear for her life for a moment. But after studying Charlotte, Cullena's fierce look melted and she let out a short laugh. Then she turned back to the textbook and pointed to it again. This time the book burst into flames.  
  
"My teacher is going to be so angry!" Charlotte cried.  
  
"Sorry," Cullena said nonchalantly and made a bucket of water appear, dose the fire, and vanish again. "Was that a parlor trick?"  
  
Charlotte shook her head fiercely.  
  
"Good, now the plan is-"  
  
Cullena was interrupted by a knock on the door.  
  
"Oh, great, who's that?" Karen groaned.  
  
Cullena shrugged, "more customers?"  
  
"We can't have 'customers' come at all times in the night, you know," Charlotte hissed.  
  
"Just these last ones and then we'll close up shop until tomorrow." 


	11. Chapter 11

Pacing around the small tomb, Xander thought about what he would tell Buffy about what happened. Maybe he could tell her that Anya was already gone when he got to the tomb. Of course, that would be a lie. And it would make Buffy question his ability as part of the team. If he couldn't catch his girlfriend in a chase, would could he do? There was always the truth. But again, it would make Buffy question his abilities. Or, even worse, Buffy might not even care if Anya was gone forever. But he cared. He cared a great deal.  
  
Xander knew he could have stopped Anya from teleporting or whatever she did, he knew it. What should he have done to stop her? Was she gone for good because of him?   
  
Then, suddenly, there was a flash of light and out of it stepped a perturbed Anya. An unexplainable joy swept over Xander when he saw her. Anya saw this joy on his face and for a moment, she shared his joy. But it was only a brief moment which she quickly shrugged off. He caught this and doubted himself. What if she had gotten her powers back and was about to sike a band of killer bees on him?  
  
"So, uh, how'd it go?" Xander asked cautiously. 'Yes, conversation, good. Buy yourself some time,' he thought.  
  
Anya shot him a murderous glare. "There's some bad news and some not as bad news."  
  
"You're only going to sike bumble bees on me?" he asked hopefully.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Nevermind. So what's the news?"  
  
"Well," she said, "I didn't obtain my powers again but D'Hoffryn did offer me a way to get them back."  
  
"Oh, I'm... happy for you," Xander lied unenthusiastically.  
  
"You should be especially since you're going to help with the process."  
  
"Hold on, what? I think I missed something. I knew I should've fired my secretary."  
  
At this point, Anya wasn't listening. She was instead attempting to open the large stone door that sealed them in the tomb.  
  
"I have one question," Anya started.  
  
"Only one?" Xander muttered.  
  
"Well, two. One is, where am I and the other is who are you?"  
  
Xander didn't answer for a moment so he could figure out what to say. The first question was easy to answer, of course. In fact, Anya had probably heard of Sunnydale as the Hellmouth during her demon days. But how was he supposed to answer the second question delicately?  
  
"Well, you're in Sunnydale and I'm you're boyfriend, the guy you like to have sex with," Xander informed her.  
  
"My boyfriend? I'm human *and* I have a boyfriend?" Anya spat, ashamed of herself.  
  
"It could be worse. You could be a construction worker."  
  
Anya gave him a questioning look which Xander responded to with a shrug.  
  
"Anyway, don't you want to know what you're going to help me with?" Anya asked somewhat impatiently.  
  
"Yes, yes, of course," Xander replied.  
  
"You're going to assist me with the capture of the Sirenial Sisters."  
  
Xander perked up at this.  
  
"D'Hoffryn said they have a lot going on in the demon dimension the Sirenial Sisters are imprisoned in. Nothing too profound but just a lot of small conflicts. Anyway, it's enough to distract the police there. So, long story diminutive, someone performed a summoning spell that released the Sirenial Sisters," Anya explained.  
  
"It looks like we're a better match for each other than we thought," Xander grinned.  
****  
"So what's the plan, captain?" Graham asked as he peered out through the branches of a bush.  
  
Ten men in camouflage were crouched together behind a large mass of bushes.  
  
"Well, I was thinking we could look for local Wiccan groups or hang outs. We may be able to find either the demons themselves or the witches who summoned them," Riley informed the group he'd put together.  
  
"So basically it's an all night deal. Or at least what's left of the night," Forrest said.  
  
"We can always split up into two groups of five and then divide the town in half. If Dr. Walsh had given me a larger team..."  
  
"Riley, man, there was what some might call a Code Red situation at headquarters. Dr. Walsh couldn't afford to loose many men," Graham intervened.  
  
Riley nodded, knowing his friend was right. After looking out again through the branches, he turned to a blonde man close to his side.  
  
"Damon, take Peter, Carter, Brint and Carl. You guys look through the north and east parts of town from Burry Street to Rose Court," Riley commended.  
  
After hearing his commends, the blond man nodded and turned to the appointed men.  
  
"Let's move out," Damon commended as he motioned to the men in his squad.  
  
"We'll report back here at 0500 hours," Riley said.  
  
"But, sir, that's only in three and a half hours, will we have time to cover everything?" Damon asked.  
  
"I'm not sure but if we don't we'll be able to re-strategize when we meet."  
  
Damon and his squad left the hiding place to explore their appointed part of town. Riley kept his men back to inform them on his plans.  
  
"We'll take the rest of town. But first, I want to make one quick stop."  
****  
"Back for more?"  
  
The same redhead who came to the door last time answered it again. But this time, there were two tired women behind her instead of one. And there were some scuffling noises from both of the closets.  
  
"No," Buffy said quickly as she stepped between Spike and the door. She didn't trust that vampire when it came to baked goods. "Look, this is going to sound strange..."  
  
"It's college, everything's strange around here," Cullena smiled.  
  
Buffy laughed awkwardly, hoping to fill time while she thought of what to say.  
  
"I know it's late but one of my," Spike poked her discreetly on the back, "our friend, I mean, told us you were a witch," Buffy made up as she went along.  
  
The red haired women seemed shocked and suspicious. She turned to look at the women behind her who seemed just as shocked and suspicious.  
  
"By witch she means Wiccan. You are in a Wiccan group, right?" Spike questioned, thinking Buffy had said the wrong thing which had made the women uncomfortable.  
  
While she no longer looked shocked, the women in front of them still seemed suspicious and, they sensed, a little nervous. The other two women cautiously approached the door and surrounded the red head in an act of support. Spike could sense Buffy's uneasiness as she tried to slowly inch back.  
  
"Who's your friend?" Karen asked. She and the other woman who had approached, Charlotte, seemed to be more afraid that the redhead.  
  
Spike exchanged glances with Buffy who seemed to give him approval to tell.  
  
"Willow Rosenberg, red hair, green eyes, tall, cute as hell."  
  
Buffy was the only one who heard the melancholy and longing that lurked beneath Spike's indifferent tone. She looked up at him softly and felt some pity for the vampire. He did seem to really love Willow. But, she reminded herself, he hadn't proven himself to her yet.  
  
After a brief hesitation, the three women in the dorm exchanged glances like Buffy and Spike had. Suddenly, there was a loud crash from inside one of the closets.  
  
"Mice?" Cullena offered with a syrupy smile.  
  
"Um, no, we don't know any Willow Rosenbergs, sorry," Karen said quickly and began to shut the door.  
  
Putting out a hand, Spike stopped the heavy oak door, desperation on his features.  
  
"So you guys aren't in a Wiccan group together?" Spike asked.  
  
"No, sorry," Charlotte called.  
  
"But you're having a bake sale!" Spike cried somewhat frantically.  
  
Slowly the door opened a little bit and Cullena stuck out her red-locked head.  
  
"Do you know how many people could be having a bake sale at any given time?"  
  
The door slammed shut with a powerful bang that echoed down the silent halls of the college. 


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Swot means like a goody-goody who spends all his time studying in Britain. Or at least I think it does. Anyway, I think it refers to kids in school but I stretched its meaning.  
****  
  
The soft beat of music drifted through the thick oak of Giles' door. And after a knock on that door with no answer, Riley decided the music was much louder on the other side. After another failed attempt, opening the door without permission was the only solution.  
  
"You guys wait here," Riley commended his squad.  
  
They nodded and retreated off into a nearby patch of bushes.  
  
Slowly, the door opened with a creak. A barrage of music from 'Help!' hit Riley as he stepped into the disarranged house.  
  
'Yup,' Riley thought, 'the music is definitely louder on the inside.'  
  
"Giles?" he called to a seemingly empty house.   
  
There was no answer. Beer bottles were scattered throughout the room. But besides that and the loud music, there was no sign of the watcher.  
  
"Giles?" Riley called again, louder than before.  
  
"Who's that?" A familiar voice asked from a room on the second floor.  
  
"It's Riley," he replied and then added softly to himself, "not that that means anything to you."  
  
A figure emerged suddenly from a door and stumbled down the stairs.  
  
"And who exactly is Riley?" A clearly drunk Giles asked and took a swig from a unlabeled bottle in his hand.  
  
"No one to you. Well, not anymore. You use to know me before..." Riley could see that he wasn't getting through to the drunk Englishman. At this point, he could say just about anything and Giles would just go along with it.  
  
"Hey buddy," Riley said as if they were old pals. "How are- are those leather pants?"  
  
Giles looked down at himself and let out a short laugh.  
  
"Yes, thank everything holy. It's the weirdest thing, a little while ago I woke up here and you'll never guess what I was wearing."  
  
"Tweed?"  
  
Giles blinked at the boy and asked, "how'd you know?"  
  
"Lucky guess," Riley replied as he settled himself in a chair that Giles motioned to like a good host. Giles also offered the soldier a drink which he had politely turned down.  
  
"Anyway, I went upstairs to find a change of clothes and I entered a forest of tweed. It was like some bloody nightmare. This shirt and these pants were some of the few salvageable things," Giles explained as he sat down on the couch.  
  
Buffy didn't tell Riley very much about Giles' past and he was beginning to see why.  
  
"Of course, you might not know what I mean by 'salvageable'" Giles commented as he eyed the boy's camouflaged clothing.  
  
Shifting uncomfortably under the Watcher's gaze, Riley decided to speed up the process.   
  
"So you have no idea where you are?" Riley asked abruptly.  
  
"No bloody clue. Some old swot's house I guess. Not sure why though."  
  
As a trained soldier, Riley was very skilled at fabricating simple and plausible explanations for complex situations.  
  
"Don't you remember?" Riley asked with a friendly laugh. "You're, uh, watching this house while the owner is on vacation. And, apparently, draining his liquor cabinet."  
  
It looked like Giles accepted this explanation or at least that's what he wanted. He may not remember anything from the past twenty years, but he was human. Humans like to accept answers they're given just to make it easier, Riley had observed.  
  
"But," Giles began carefully, "why was I wearing the guy's clothes?"  
  
"Well, uh, you know how you get when you're drunk," Riley joked nervously.  
  
Giles' features brightened and he laughed. "Like that one time with the bowling ball and the twins when I-"  
  
"Yeah, yeah, those were good times," Riley said quickly, deciding he'd had his fill of disturbing images for the day.  
  
An awkward silence fell between the two men. The only noise was generated by the record player which filled the room with the Beatle's song 'Yesterday' which set a somber tone for the room.  
  
"I should get going," Riley said. "You stay here and look after... things."  
  
"Wait, who were those other people that were here earlier?" Giles called after the departing soldier.  
  
"Just some of our other friends," Riley informed him as he opened the door.  
  
"That one chick, the one I was drinking with, are we, you know, shagging?"  
  
"Oh, yuck, Giles, that's disgusting!" Riley cried, unable to control himself.  
  
"What? That was a valid question! I just didn't want any angry phone calls from her if we are and I didn't know. And wait, Giles?" The Watcher asked in confusion.   
  
"I'll see you later," Riley mumbled and quickly shut the door.  
****  
Chilly air surrounded Anya and Xander as soon as they stepped out of the tomb. Anya clasped her arms around herself out of instinct. Xander remembered that she left her coat at Giles' house and hadn't noticed the cold in her rage. He almost offered his coat to the shivering ex-demon but decided against it since he didn't know how she'd react.  
  
"We should go back to the house we were at before. That's were your coat is," Xander said softly. He didn't know why his voice went to low and intimate. The cold air seemed to want it that way.   
  
"I have a coat?" Anya asked.  
  
"Of course!" Xander laughed then stopped when he saw Anya's broken look. She really didn't remember anything.  
  
"That sounds like a valid plan to me. But immediately afterwards it's imperative that we begin searching for the Sirenial Sisters," Anya said.  
  
"Yes sir," Xander mocked.  
  
The joke was apparently lot on the annoyed ex-demon because she just blinked at the boy and started walking.  
  
"So in my mortal life I..."  
  
For once in her thousand years of existence, Anya wasn't sure how to say something. And Xander didn't seem to want to help her with it.  
  
"In my mortal life, I have feelings for you?" she asked finally.  
  
"Or a whole lot of hormones as you once fondly put it. That's the tricky part about being human, you have all these 'feelings' to deal with."  
  
Silently, Anya pondered this. Then she asked, "does this mean I have sex with you?"  
  
"Gee, that shock in your voice is so comforting," Xander responded sarcastically.  
  
"No, actually, I can imagine that," she comforted him. "A thousand years of virtually no sex does that to a girl."  
  
"Again, not very comforting."  
  
"I'm trying!"  
  
An angry silence fell between the two. Anya wished she was a demon even more than before.  
  
"Look, will it comfort your masculine pride if I tell you that you're one of the better males I've ever met?"  
  
"Yes, actually, it would."  
  
Thinking this meant she was on good terms with her companion, Anya let silence come again. But after a moment, she realized that she'd lost Xander. Looking around, she found him standing a few steps behind her, arms crossed and one foot tapping.  
  
"Well?" he asked.  
  
"Well what? Is this some stupid male game?"  
  
"There you go again insulting my gender! Especially when you're supposed to be comforting me!" Xander had a fake pout on his face.  
  
"What? Oh." What Xander meant finally dawned on Anya. She walked back to him and took his hands in hers. "You're one of the better males I've ever met."  
  
There was a fleeting moment where Anya's features softened and she leaned in a little without meaning to. When she realized that Xander was doing the same, she straightened herself and added bitterly, "that's only because I haven't spent enough time with you."  
  
She yanked her hands free from Xander's grasp and walked off happily.  
  
Xander rolled his eyes and mumbled and exasperated "women" before following after her. 


	13. Chapter 13

"What now?"  
  
The question was so good that it couldn't be answered. It just echoed through the halls until it finally died out, unanswered. Buffy and Spike were sitting beside each other, leaning against the wall. It would have been an odd sight to see for anyone who saw them only a few days ago. Especially since their shoulders were touching in a borderline friendly way and neither moved to change it.  
  
Neither of them were people who liked to sit on the job. But they were both drained, out of ideas and cookies.   
  
"I only got five cookies," Spike mumbled.  
  
"There were only twelve in the box!" Buffy cried indignantly.  
  
"For someone so skinny, you eat a lot."  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes and forced herself to stand up. Spike did the same but besides that, nothing changed. There was still silence in the hallway and no plans formed.  
  
"Was it just me, or did it seem like the women in the dorm were acting very strange?" Spike wondered aloud.  
  
"They were acting very suspicious," Buffy agreed.   
  
"I have an idea," Spike announced and started walking back down the hall.  
  
"Spike," Buffy hissed, "we can't form plans around suspicions! Well, okay, sometimes. No, I mean never. Spike!"  
  
"Be quiet, slayer," Spike commended. "I know people, I've been around them long enough."  
  
They had reached the end of the hall and Spike motioned for Buffy to be quiet before she could protest. He opened the stairwell door and crouched behind it. For a moment, Buffy stood her ground but finally she decided to try the vampire's plan and crouched down beside him.  
  
"You look very stupid, just so you know," Buffy whispered to Spike as he positioned himself in front of the door crack to watch for any activity.  
****  
"I don't like this," Karen murmured.  
  
"What do you mean?" Cullena asked.  
  
Karen shook her head and crossed her arms, rubbing them as it she was cold.  
  
"Those people... they could tell something was wrong," Karen explained.  
  
"We probably did seem pretty suspicious," Charlotte observed.  
  
"Well what do you suggest we do?" Cullena asked, somewhat annoyed.  
  
"Couldn't we go somewhere else? I'm worried that they'll come back," Karen said.  
  
"And where exactly would we go? We set fire to our last hide-out," Cullena replied sharply.  
  
"You burnt it?" A puzzled Charlotte gulped.  
  
"Look, it doesn't matter," Reina interjected. "If you guys want to get out of here, you'll have to think of a place to go."  
  
After exchanging glances, Karen and Charlotte thought for a moment.  
  
"We could go to another coven member's dorm," Karen suggested.  
  
"I don't really want to get them involved," Charlotte said.  
  
"They're already involved, remember? They did the spell with us," Karen said in annoyance.  
  
"We might want to move quickly. Time is of the essence and all that," Cullena informed them.  
  
"All right, I know what we can do," Charlotte said calmly. "We can stay in Tara's dorm for the night. I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a roommate. And it's right down the hall so we can listen for any activity."  
  
"Good idea," Cullena confirmed.  
  
She paused by the door for a moment and pressed her eye to the peephole. After thoroughly inspecting the hallway, she deemed it safe. They all moved out into it cautiously but only Karen and Charlotte were nervous. They both knew it was all to convenient that no one was out walking the hall, even at this hour in the night.  
  
From behind the door to the stairway, Spike saw something that made him freeze for a moment. Buffy eagerly pushed him out of the way of the thin strip of light between the door and the wall. She peered through it to see ten women loitering in the hallway. Their position was close enough to the group for her to make out the faces of the three women from the dorm they visited earlier. 'But there had only been those three in the dorm, not ten,' Buffy thought. 'Unless they were hiding something like- Willow?' Suddenly Buffy saw what had made Spike freeze when her red haired best friend pushed her way towards the other redhead in the group. Then she realized they were whispering to each other and strained her ears to pick up on the conversation.  
  
"... investigate it?" A black haired girl who Buffy didn't recognize asked.  
  
"I'll go alone, to make it look less suspicious," the redhead replied in a low voice.  
  
"But they'll run away," someone protested.  
  
"Not if I run faster," the redhead said with a smirk.  
  
Before Buffy knew what was happening, the women was bounding up the hallway. She did it soundlessly and with surprising speed. And this caught Buffy so off guard, Spike had to pull her out of the way when the door burst open.  
  
"Maybe you can catch me up with the times," the red haired women proposed as she stood before them. "What's the term for people like you? Stalkers? Peeping Toms? Or just plain sickos?"  
  
"What about you guys? Do you prefer the term gang? Or is this some kind of orgy?" Buffy quipped as she regained her composure.  
  
"College is the time for experimenting, am I right?" Cullena said, relying on the knowledge she gained before being locked up 40 years ago.  
  
At this point, Spike and Buffy both knew this wasn't just some peeved college girl holding a bake sale with her pals. She had to be one of the demons they were after. She'd proven to have strength and speed, whether it was from magic or not, and she had felt their presence.  
  
"And it looks like you're doing more than sexual experimenting." Buffy refused to back down. "Looks like you started some experimentation in the black arts."  
  
"We're not the only ones. I seem to recall a certain redhead with green eyes, who was tall and cute as hell. She messed around with magic too, didn't she? She's the reason you guys are in this situation, if I remember correctly."  
  
So there it was. The women standing before them admitted to being a demon, as they suspected. She was one of the Sirenial Sisters. They could end this all right now.   
  
And that's what Buffy was thinking when she kicked Cullena, sending her against the wall. Cullena seemed physically hurt by the attack but she didn't fight back. Spike grabbed onto the hand rails that lined the stairs heading upstairs and hoisted his body up and onto the stairs. Buffy stayed on the small cement landing with Cullena. Frustrated that Cullena wouldn't fight back, Buffy punched her again, once to the face and twice to the stomach. Suddenly, Cullena's eyes clouded over as Buffy moved to kick her again. Quickly seeing the change in their opponent, Spike pushed Cullena out of the way of Buffy's kick.   
  
"She's trying to go a sp-"   
  
Spike was cut off by a sudden blast of energy created by Cullena.  
  
"Out of my way," she hissed as she grabbed the destiracted Slayer and held her tightly.   
  
The energy blast didn't cause Spike any harm, Cullena only wanted to disorient him, not kill him or Buffy. But it left him blinded for a moment, a moment long enough for Cullena to murmur a small chant and then drop Buffy's body to the ground.  
  
As Spike's vision cleared, he caught sight of Willow standing in the doorway looking at him with indifference before Cullena grabbed her arm and said a chant causing them to disappear. The rest of the Sirenial Sisters grabbed onto the mortals and chanted in the same way causing them to disappear also. By then Spike's vision had cleared and he ran to Buffy's side. Her eyes were shut but Spike noticed the steady rising and falling of her chest. She was alive. Spike considered what he should do. Should he move her? He had to, he had to take her somewhere safer. But that was one of the tricky things about spells. Spike figured that spells were usually more complex than just causing someone to fall unconscious. But what was the catch? Was she not allowed to be touched? Was she going to become blind? Were all her bones going to melt? He had to risk it.  
  
So as gingerly as possible, Spike scooped Buffy into his arms and lifted her off the ground. So far so good. Giles house would be the best place to take her. Maybe if he went to Giles house he could meet up with some of the others. They'd help him form a plan of action. Then he remembered who 'the others' were. A soldier, a women who thought she was a demon, a whelp, and a watcher with amnesia who was probably passed out from drinking so much anyway.  
  
"Bloody hell," Spike mumbled to himself as he walked down the stairs hurriedly. "Things were so much easier when my only planning consisted of where to find a decent meal." 


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: So this is the chapter almost everything gets explained. I hope is makes sense! Also, this is kind of the beginning of the end; 'The Anonymous Redhead' is almost over...  
****  
  
After closely inspecting the surrounding area, Riley located his squad hiding in a nearby bush.  
  
"All right guys," he said as he knelt down beside them, "we can now continue with our mission. As always, we must exercise extreme caution and travel as covertly as possible. This means no loud talking and limited time spent not undercover. We shouldn't do anything to draw atten-"  
  
"Hey Riley!" Xander called from the other side of the bush. "What are you doing over there?"  
  
"Trying to be covert," Riley mumbled.  
  
"Oh, well, keep up the good work," Xander said as he turned away.  
  
"So anyway..." Riley began.  
  
"Actually," Xander interrupted him again as he turned back around, "have you seen Buffy?"  
  
"No. I just came here to check on Giles."  
  
"Yeah, we're here for Anya's coat." Xander motioned to the shivering girl. "Why don't you go on ahead, Anya, I'll just be a min-"  
  
"No," Riley said quickly, "you should go with her."  
  
Xander looked at him strangely for a moment and then asked, "is this just your fancy soldier way of getting rid of me?"  
  
"Of course not," Riley assured him, "I just think it'd be safer for Anya if she didn't go in there alone."  
  
"Giles is that hammered, huh?"  
  
"Well," Riley hesitated, "that and other things."  
  
Xander nodded even though he wasn't exactly sure what Riley meant.  
  
"Will you wait here?" Xander asked. "We'll be quick."  
  
"Okay," Riley agreed. "It'd be good to come up with a plan."  
  
"Exactly. Let's go, Anya."  
  
Anya scowled at being ordered around by a man but followed anyway. When they entered the house, Giles was stretched out across the couch with his eyes shut. Xander walked over to him and prodded his shoulder with a finger.  
  
"Huh, what? Who are you?" Giles mumbled when his eyes opened slightly.  
  
"Xander, which one of these coats belongs to me?" Anya asked from across the room.  
  
"Anyanka?" Giles questioned when he recognized the voice.  
  
"Ripper?"  
  
"Your coat is the red one," Xander intervened quickly.  
  
"Are you Riley?" Giles asked sleepily as he rubbed his eyes.  
  
"Uh..." Xander wasn't sure what to say.  
  
"So you're sure Anyanka and I aren't shagging?"   
  
"What?" Xander cried indignantly as he stood up.  
  
"Well, if not, do you know if she is shagging anybody?" Giles asked hopefully.  
  
"And we're done here," Xander said as he went up to Anya. "Go back to sleep, Giles."  
  
They left the house quickly and Anya muttered at how rude and how male he was acting. Xander ignored her. When they got outside, Riley had changed from his soldier uniform into civilian clothing.   
  
"How does he do that?" Xander wonder aloud.  
  
"So what's the plan?" Riley asked as if Xander knew.  
  
"We should look for the people who summoned them," Anya said.  
  
"And how exactly do we do that?" Riley asked with some annoyance.  
  
"If only D'Hoffryn gave me my demon powers again, just for a short period of time," Anya grumbled.  
  
"So we have nothing?" Xander summed it up.  
  
"I wouldn't say that."  
  
Everyone turned to see the owner of the voice. It was Spike. And in his arms was the limp form of Buffy. Xander and Riley rushed over.   
  
"What happened?" Riley asked as he took Buffy into his arms.  
  
"We had an encounter with the Sirenial Sisters. I can see why known of the other demons wanted to play with them at school," Spike grumbled.   
  
"How'd they do this to Buffy?" Xander questioned.  
  
"Some kind of spell I imagine. I saw one of them grab her and chant something," Spike explained.  
  
"And where were you during this?" Xander asked angrily.  
  
"I was detained," Spike answered sharply, "by a crippling blast of energy."  
  
"What did she look like? The demon who seized Buffy," Anya asked, trying to avoid a counter productive fight.  
  
"Red hair and green eyes," Spike recalled.  
  
"Cullena," Anya said flatly. "She has brown eyes but she adapts the eye color of the witch whose power she drains."  
  
"Willow," Spike said softly.  
  
"But this means that you know where the Sirenial Sisters are, right?" Xander asked.  
  
" 'Fraid not. The Skanky Sisters scampered off, well, disappeared I should say, after they did this to the Slayer. By the way, shouldn't we be getting her inside?"  
  
"Good point," Riley agreed. He motioned to his squad that he'd still be a minute. Then he followed the others indoors.  
  
In a group effort, they moved the still passed-out Giles from the couch to a chair and arranged Buffy on the couch.  
  
"So she's been this way since the attack?" Riley asked indicating Buffy.  
  
"Actually, she went in and out of it on our way here. But she was acting different. She would basically wake up, say some insult and drop back off," Spike said.  
  
"Wait, so she insulted you a lot?" Xander asked.  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Then she wasn't acting different at all, what are you worried about?"  
  
Spike scowled at the boy but held his tongue, thinking that if he fought with him, Willow would somehow find out and be angry.  
  
"No, I'm serious. She was-"  
  
Suddenly, Buffy's body writhed on the couch, interrupting Spike. Then just as suddenly, it stopped.  
  
"What was that?" Xander voiced everyone's question.  
  
"Those parsimonious demons! They stole Buffy's soul!" Anya exclaimed.  
  
"What do you mean?" Riley asked with concern.  
  
"That's what some demons do to replenish their powers," Anya explained.  
  
"And you're remembering this now," Xander said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.  
  
"What do you mean by stealing their souls? Wouldn't that kill the person? And does that mean the Sirenial Sisters have souls?" Spike questioned.  
  
"Not precisely. Some demons use human souls as energy sources meaning they have to steal humans' souls thus turning the humans into mindless drones."  
  
"Do all vengeance demons do this?" Xander asked, horrified at thinking of his girlfriend doing things to make people suffer like Buffy and Willow.  
  
"No. But potentially if they go for long enough without using their powers they might have to in order to regain them. The Sirenial Sisters were imprisoned for approximately forty years. That was enough for them to be almost entirely drained of their powers. It depends on the demon as to how long they can last without using their powers before recharging. And, again, not all demons do this."  
  
"So are demons very picky about who they suck? I mean, uh, steal the soul of," Xander rephrased quickly when he heard Spike snicker.  
  
"For demons like the Sirenial Sisters whose power is mainly rooted in witchcraft they would target witches," Anya said, feeling very smart.  
  
"Like Willow," Spike said softly. "But what about Buffy?"  
  
Anya shrugged. "Either Cullena was proving a point or showing off."  
  
"But Willow didn't pass out completely for such a long period of time like Buffy. And she didn't come in direct contact with any of the Sirenial Sisters," Spike pointed out.  
  
"I know," Anya said, exasperated, "but now that the Sirenial Sisters have more power they can probably steal people's souls more easily now. And that kind of thing has different effects on different people."  
  
"So since Cullena is more powerful now, it only took one attempt to soul-suck Buffy." Spike started to understand.  
  
"Yes!" Anya cried happily, excited at being the smart one who was helping people. 'Wait, helping people?' she wondered, 'I'm a vengeance demon, I don't help people. Unless it involves boils or pus.'  
  
"So what do we do now?"  
  
Again, that question and again, no answer  
****  
"So what do we do now?" Karen asked impatiently.  
  
"I don't like this," Charlotte murmured.  
  
"Stop being so negative you two," Cullena scolded. "Everything's going to be okay."  
  
"In what sense of the word?" Karen cried angrily.  
  
The words echoed through the empty factory they were hiding in. They'd actually transported to the college campus, knowing that Spike and Buffy couldn't follow. There Karen and Charlotte decided the old and empty factory they stood in would be a good hiding place.  
  
"In the sense that none of us are hurt, captured, or dead. And that that strong girl and boy won't be able to find us," Cullena explained calmly.  
  
She walked away from the group to gaze out a window, her hands resting lightly on the sill.  
  
"There was something different about those two," Cullena said in a stage whisper. "They both possessed great power but were very different from one another, I'm not sure how."  
  
"I sensed it too," Reina confirmed.  
  
Cullena nodded then turned her head slightly towards the group.  
  
"Come here, Willow," she murmured.  
  
Dutifully, the fellow redhead walked to her master who put a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"Tell me, Willow, why does that girl and boy posses such strength? And how can we change that?" 


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: It's not over yet. But almost. If anyone's still reading this, sorry for the wait. I've been having a slight case of writer's block. Hopefully I'll have this story finished very soon. But I do have some other stories in the works so if anyone actually likes this, please stick around! Alright, I hope you enjoy!  
****  
  
For about 20 minutes, Willow gave a brief overview of her life as a member of the Scooby Gang for Cullena. She talked about Buffy's role as the Slayer, Giles' role as the Watcher, and her role as the sidekick. She told them about some of the many adventures they've been through together. Some she talked about included defeating the Master, having to fight Buffy's ex-boyfriend who turned evil, and blowing up their highschool. She also relived the past events of that year; Oz leaving, the Initiative, the Gentleman, and Spike. She talked about all of the major events in her life and she did it with no emotion. At no moment in her monologue did her voice quicken in excitement like the old Willow would've done. And her eyes never once welled in tears even when she talked about Buffy's death or Oz breaking her heart. She didn't even smile when describing her new found love with Spike.  
  
In addition to Willow's soul, Cullena seemed to have stolen Willow's emotions. While Willow spoke, Cullena laughed, smiled, and even squealed occasionally. And by the end of the story, Cullena's eyes were so wide and full of excitement, they looked like they would pop out of her head. She'd missed a lot while in that damn demon prison.  
  
After the completion of Willow's story, Cullena hugged the girl and exclaimed, "this is going to be so easy!"  
****  
"This isn't going to be easy," Riley mumbled.  
  
"Come on, chin up, Sunnydale isn't that big of a town," Spike attempted to rally the troop of one soldier, an ex-demon, and some kid.  
  
"Yeah, maybe a few years ago it wasn't. Now we suddenly have a zoo, a muesuem, an underground government operation, and a..." Xander listed Sunnydale's major attractions on his fingers.  
  
"There should be some yellow path for us to follow," Anya pouted. "Oh! Maybe there's a spell for that!"  
  
"Yeah and when we find the witches, we'll pour water over them and they'll just melt away," Spike said sarcastically.  
  
"As much as I hate to admit it, Spike's right."  
  
Spike shot Xander a murderous glare.  
  
"I just mean, I think we've all had enough spells for a while," Xander clarified.  
  
"We're going to have to do this the old fashioned way, on foot," Riley said.  
  
Anya scowled and suddenly cried, "why should I listen to you men, anyway? I think we should do a spell. I'm willing to risk it. You should too, Spike, after all, you are in love with Willow."  
  
"What?" The three men asked at the same time..  
  
"You'd do that for Willow?" Xander asked warmly.  
  
"You remember that?" Riley questioned.  
  
"I'd do anything for Willow," Spike said softly.  
  
"One at a time!" Anya shouted. "Do I have strong feelings against this girl? If not, I have no problem helping her."  
  
Xander beamed at his girlfriend's partially nice comment. "No, you're great friends with Willow," he lied.  
  
Then Anya turned to Riley. "I don't remember a massive quantity of information but some things are coming back to me."  
  
"The spell must be wearing off," Riley said more to himself than anyone else.  
  
"And Spike," Anya addressed the melancholy vampire, "if you really would do anything for her then you damn well better do something!"  
  
Everyone was stunned at Anya's forcefulness. They noted how differently she acted when she didn't know what she was talking about.  
  
"Don't make me liquefy your entrails," she added.  
  
Or not.  
  
"Fine, I'll do a spell with you. Can you think of one?" Spike asked.  
  
Anya looked at him blankly. "Uh..."  
****  
"No." Karen said the word firmly and without fear. She knew she had to stand up to Cullena and the others eventually. It was, after all, partially her fault they were here. And partially her fault that the blonde girl from before got hurt and any others who got hurt later. She wanted to stop then and there. And she could tell Charlotte did too. But she knew she had to be the one to say it.  
  
"Excuse me?" Cullena asked. She turned to the girl, eyes glinting.  
  
"I-I said..." Karen felt herself loosing her nerve under the witch's glare.  
  
"She said no," Charlotte chimed in suddenly.  
  
"Do I need to go over the plan again?" Cullena asked with a patience that edged close to anger. "We've decided to find the Slayer and her little groupies now and get it over with. I mean, let's face it, we're going to have to face them sooner or later if we're going to take over the world."  
  
"No, no, no," Karen objected, shaking her head rapidly, "there's no 'we' involved in this. I don't know how you got Tara and the others to join you but-"  
  
"Oh, we stole their souls and brainwashed them," Rosa said cheerfully.  
  
"Whatever. What I'm saying is that we won't help you," Karen said sternly.  
  
"It's a little late for that. We owe all of this to you."  
  
Looking down at her feet, Karen weakly mumbled, "we won't let you hurt the Slay- I mean, Buffy. Or anyone else."  
  
All of the laughter and glee drained from Cullena's face and was replaced by a bitter frown.  
  
"What do you care anyway? You don't even know Buffy or anyone of her friends. Well, except Willow but it's a little late for her. Isn't that right, Willow?"  
  
Willow nodded her head like an obedient soulless slave. Charlotte looked down at her feet like Karen to hide her grimace.  
  
"Can't we unwish our wish?" Karen asked desperately.  
  
"Sorry, no returns or refunds," Clarissa smiled.  
  
"But we don't care about how many cookies we sell! We just don't want anyone else to be hurt!" Charlotte cried. Her voice was high like she was on the verge of tears.  
  
Cullena and Reina exchanged annoyed glances. This wasn't part of the plan they spent all those years in prison forming.  
  
"Look, we could be doing a lot better things right now than catering to some whiny college girls' every whim. We *are* on a schedule here. A schedule that involves more than selling some goddamn cookies so you can buy those really cute shoes you've been eyeing! We didn't have that when we were you're age. No colleges for females, no malls. Only a life cut short by a flaming stake or a husband and some snot nosed kids!" Cullena's eyes had darkened and her fists were shaking from the energy that sparked around them.   
  
By then Karen and Charlotte had backed into a corner. Their mouths were agap and their eyes were filled with trembling tears.  
  
"Cullena," Reina said softly as she gently put her hand on her older sister's shoulder.  
  
Cullena squeezed her eyes tight and released her fist. The energy around her diminished as her eyes lightened.  
  
"We're u-using the m-money for a dance recital," Charlotte stuttered out. 'I will never, ever make fun of Tara again!' She vowed silently.  
  
She didn't laugh, but Cullena did manage to force a smile. But the rest of her face seemed almost tired.  
  
"We finish the Slayer and her friends tonight," Cullena announced solemnly.  
  
"We don't want any part of it," Karen said with renewed bravery.  
  
Cullena turned to her and Karen lost that bravery.  
  
"Fine. But that means you can't have your wish granted," she replied steadily.  
  
"Wait. We're not allowed to refuse someone's wish," Clarissa argued.  
  
"Why not?" Cullena asked her. "It's not like we can be punished for it."  
  
Usually this kind of statement would've been followed by a laugh. But this time Cullena remained serious.  
  
"I never thought of it that way," Clarissa confessed softly.  
  
"None of us did which goes to show how weak we've become. We can't let some stupid wish get in our way. We'll just have to leave Karen and Charlotte behind," Cullena explained.  
  
Karen and Charlotte exchanged looks of relief.  
  
"That doesn't mean we can't make a stop to kill the Slayer," Cullena informed them coldly. "Let's go."  
  
They walked away from the frightened humans and to the door in step.  
  
"What are we going to do?" Charlotte whispered.  
  
"What can we do?" Karen replied.  
  
Charlotte shook her head and said, "something."  
  
"By the way," Cullena said as she turned around with a screech of heels. "we're putting a spell on this place; you won't be able to get out until morning. By then it'll be too late."  
****  
"You just gave us that long speech and you don't even have a plan?" Spike asked indignantly.  
  
"I shouldn't be required to do everything around here," Anya hissed.  
  
"Look, guys, here's what we'll do," Riley said quickly, "I'll gather my troops and continue my mission with them. We already have a troop searching another part of town."  
  
"That all sounds fine and dandy but what are we supposed to do?" Xander asked.  
  
"Well... uh..."  
  
"See, he doesn't have a plan either," Anya said accusingly.  
  
"No, I do, I mean," Riley said.  
  
Everyone looked to the soldier expectantly. He shifted nervously under their gaze.  
  
"You guys stay here," Riley started cautiously.  
  
"Yeah and do the spell. We knew that already," Spike said.  
  
"No, I mean, after the spell, just stay here," Riley finished.  
  
"No way, I'm not-"  
  
"Don't worry, the spell will work," Anya interrupted Spike.  
  
"Yeah, once we find one to do," Xander scoffed.  
  
"Fine," Spike grumbled. "You can go toddle off with your troop now."  
  
Riley bite his tongue and departed quickly.  
  
"Well, looks like it's time to do another spell." 


	16. Chapter 16

A/N: This is it, the final chapter besides the epilogue. If anyone reading (and hopefully someone is reading) stuck with me for the entire, thank you very much. This is only my second chapter fanfiction story so it was hard going. But I am working on a few stories right now so if you like this (or hated it but think I can do better), please read them when they come out! And as always, reviews are appreciated! Enjoy!  
****  
  
Soft snoring and the occasional rustling of paper filled the otherwise quiet room. Xander and Spike exchanged glances and stifled their laughs when they discovered that the snoring was coming from Buffy. But besides that, they all spent their time leafing through spell books. This came after they decided not to try the binding spell again. They still didn't know what went wrong the first time they did it so they decided not to risk it. Now they sat in an awkward silence, looking at spells to turn people into toads, bring old lovers back, and turn pasta into snakes.  
  
"Okay, I think I just got an idea," Xander announced suddenly.  
  
"Did you get a clue with that idea?" Spike asked.  
  
Xander rolled his eyes. "No, I thought you might want it."  
  
"Oh yeah?" Spike asked indignantly.  
  
"Boys," Anya quickly intervened, "I know it's in your barbaric nature to act immaturely but can we please cut back on the testosterone. At least for a brief duration of time."  
  
After exchanging angry glances with Xander, Spike muttered, "what's your idea then?"  
  
"I was thinking we could do another binding spell," Xander said then added quickly, "but this would just be to strip them of their powers. You know, leave them all helpless."  
  
"Then what?" Anya questioned.  
  
"Well, um..." Xander trailed off and flipped through the spell book he was holding.  
  
"If we did the spell would that make them human or just powerless demons?" Spike asked, fighting the urge to make fun of Xander when he was such an easy target.  
  
"They would still be demons except without their powers. We would require a specific spell to turn them human. If there is a spell for that," Anya explained.  
  
"So we could kill them, right? I mean they'd be powerless demons..." Spike stopped when he realized what he was saying.  
  
"Well we don't have to kill them," Xander said.  
  
"But would the spell hold?" Spike asked. "I mean, could they do a counterspell?"  
  
"It is a possibility," Anya admitted.  
  
"We could do something else. Like, oh, oh, oh!" Xander exclaimed. "Anya didn't you tell me how your necklace was broken and you lost your powers?"  
  
"Yes but they probably don't have their pendants. D'Hoffryn usually revokes them when he puts a demon in jail," Anya argued.  
  
"They could've taken them back though, right?" Xander asked desperately. "Spike, did you notice any necklaces?"  
  
"Can't say that I did. But I was a little distracted by them trying to killing me and Buffy," Spike said. "Besides, if they didn't have their necklaces, they'd be human, right?"  
  
"Wait, wait," Anya said as she stood up, "this is getting too complex."  
  
"Well what do you suggest then?" Spike asked angrily. He stood up, his face near Anya's. Xander stumbled up also, ready to defend his girl- ex-girlfri- Anya.  
  
"How about a banishing spell?" Anya suggested.  
  
"Banish them from where, Giles' house? What good will that do?" Spike asked.  
  
"No, from this dimension," Anya explained as if Spike was a young child.  
  
"Can we do that?" Xander asked.  
  
"With enough power, I think so," Anya replied.  
  
"I mean, can we, as in us three, do that?" Xander clarified.  
  
"I've performed spells before, mostly in my mortal days. We can do it," Anya affirmed.  
  
"Okay then," Spike said. "What do we need?"  
****  
"I don't see why we have to walk," Rosa complained.  
  
"We need to save up our power," Cullena explained for the fifth time.  
  
"Why?" Rosa asked. "We have incredible power; we're going to beat the Slayer."  
  
"Yes but what about afterwards? We have a lot to do and if we want to get it done quickly, we'll need as much as power as we posses. Besides, we're almost there," Cullena pointed out.  
  
Rosa grinned and whispered, "they don't stand a chance."  
****  
"Give it up," Karen called to Charlotte who was banging on the factory door. "We're stuck."  
  
Tears were running down Charlotte's face as she shook the doorknob violently. "We have to get out!" she sobbed.  
  
"But we can't!" Karen shouted as she stood up.  
  
"Buffy and her friends are going to die! And more after that if we don't get out and-"  
  
"And do what? What could we do to help them?"  
  
Charlotte looked to her feet. "We could do a spell."  
  
"We need a spellbook."  
  
"Damnit Karen, if we were real witches we wouldn't be in this situation!"  
  
"No. After this, I don't think I'll meddle with spells ever again."  
  
"After this," Charlotte said steadily, "but right now, it may be our only choice."  
  
"Again, no spellbook. It looks like we're stuck here for the night."  
****  
Four white candles flickered around the room. And the comforting smell of sage was everywhere. Everything was almost ready for the spell. But they were missing one thing.  
  
"What do you mean we're missing something?" Spike demanded of Anya.  
  
"The spell requires an object owned by the people being banished or something that symbolizes them," she explained.  
  
It had been decided that Anya would do the spell on her own. Initially Xander refused, saying he didn't want his girlfri- Anya to be in danger. But when she launched into yet another speech about female empowerment, Xander quickly changed his mind.  
  
So now Xander and Spike stood awkwardly off to the side, waiting for Anya to perform the spell. Spike desperately wanted something to smoke, besides the sage that is.  
  
"Well can you think of something to represent vengeance demons? Or maybe witches?" Spike asked.  
  
"Oh, oh, we could use brooms or those pointy hats," Xander suggested.  
  
Spike looked at him incredulously and shook his head. "You should be thankful that Willow can't hear you right now."  
  
"So then what should we use?" Anya asked. "If only we could acquire something of theirs..."  
  
"We might be able to help you with that."  
  
The Sirenial Sisters swept into the room, minions in tow. The candles quivered as if in fear and went out.  
  
"But you're going to have to fight us for it," Cullena smiled.  
  
Moving in front of Anya, Spike said, "shouldn't be too hard. I wish you the best of luck on your journey back to jail."  
  
"How nice of you," Cullena replied, dripping with a mix of sickening cheer and sarcasm, "but we're not going back to prison."  
  
"Think again," Spike growled. He was sick of banter. He turned to Xander and Anya, still keeping an eye on the Sirenial Sisters, and said "don't let any of these ladies give you a bear hug. And Anya, I'll get you a little something for your spell."  
  
Suddenly Spike lunged at Cullena, knocking her to the ground. Xander grabbed an umbrella that was laying nearby and attacked the Sirenial Sister closest to him, Clarissa. One of the many things that Xander learned as a Scooby was that girls weren't always as helpless as they seem. And that in special cases, it was okay to hit some of them. Deciding it'd be a while before she could do the spell, Anya joined in the fighting and attacked Reina with a paperweight. It was three against eight.  
  
Cullena squirmed but was unable to throw Spike off of her. He had her pinned. Suddenly she grabbed onto his arms and sent a powerful shock of energy through his body. He loosened his grip for a spilt second, leaving an opportunity for Rosa, Willow, and Rosa's minion to grab onto him and pull him to the ground.  
  
"Their necklaces!" Anya shouted suddenly. "They have their neck-"  
  
Reina cut Anya off by grabbing her around the neck.  
  
"Hey!" Xander cried indignantly. "Get off of her!"  
  
He pushed Clarissa away from him and rushed to where Reina was choking Anya. But as soon as he put his hands on her shoulders to pull her off, Tara grabbed one of his arms and Clarissa snatched the other. They pulled him off forcefully.  
  
"Ladies, ladies, one at a time!" Xander said almost desperately when Clarissa snatched away his umbrella. Memories of the last time women grabbed at him like this sent shivers down his spine.  
  
"Oh my dear friend Anyanka," Reina purred in mock friendliness as the ex-demon struggled in her grasp. "You stink of soul. Do you want me to change that?"  
  
As energy gathered around Reina, Anya mustered her own force. She elbowed Reina in the stomach and grabbed her necklace as Reina fell backwards.  
  
"I never had favorable feeling towards you anyway!" Anya shouted. "Save the necklaces for the spell!" she called to the others.  
  
She then ran to Xander's assistance. Meanwhile, Spike struggled as three angry witches, including Willow, held him down. He was finally able to free one arm and hit Rosa's minion into the couch. But the force sent Spike a painful reminder that some of the people he was fighting were humans, meaning he couldn't hurt them.  
  
"Don't touch the minions!" Cullena screeched as her eyes clouded over.  
  
She moved so she stood at Spike's feet while she chanted. Spike took this opportunity to send a powerful kick to her stomach. She flew backwards into a wall and fell limp.  
  
"Cullena?" Rosa called piteously.  
  
As she looked with shock at her older sister, Spike ripped Rosa's necklace off of her and shoved her backwards. Three sisters and one minion out like lights.  
  
Just as Spike thought they were ahead, Willow dug her nails into his wrist angrily.  
  
'Oh yeah,' Spike remembered unhappily, 'I still have psycho Willow to attend to."  
  
Willow straddled him and pinned his arms to his sides.  
  
"Will, honey, not in front of the others," he scolded.  
  
Her face twisted as she punched him across his face.  
  
"Bloody hell, Willow," Spike said in amazement at her strength.  
  
"Spike!" Anya cried from across the room.  
  
He looked over to see her being held by Reina's minion as Clarissa and Tara ganged up on Xander.  
  
"Sorry pet," he murmured to the distracted Willow.  
  
Quickly and effortlessly, Spike flipped Willow. He grabbed her slender wrists into one hand as his other hand clutched his aching head. As the pain subsided, he searched for a rope and settled for some wire that was plugged into the wall. He tied her to the couch and then after a sorrowful glance, joined Xander and Anya.  
  
First Spike pulled Tara off of Xander. This gave Xander the opportunity to grab Clarissa and pull off her necklace after a few punches. Then he pushed her towards Anya. And when Anya saw Clarissa falling towards her, she viscously yanked the minion holding her and put her in Clarissa's path. This freed Anya as both Clarissa and Reina's minion fell. By this time, Spike had tied up Tara.  
  
They had won. Three against eight and they won.  
  
Anya quickly collected the four necklaces. She sat in the center of the candles that Xander relighted. She needed to get the spell done before anyone decided to wake up.  
  
After some rushed chanting, Anya cried, "so mote it be!"  
  
She held the four necklaces above her head. Just as she brought her hand to them, a blast of energy light up the room. Cullena was awake.  
  
"Don't!" cried the angry witch.  
  
The energy surged forward in a flash. Suddenly Willow jerked free from her restraints and the only lamp lit in the room went out. There was a large flash of light and then the room plunged into darkness.  
****  
  
A/N: Don't fret kittens, there's still an epilogue... 


	17. Epilogue

A/N: 'The Anonymous Redhead' is finally over completely. I think I said everything I wanted to say in the last chapter. Basically, this is the epilogue so it ties any loose ends. I hope you enjoy!  
****  
  
It only took a few days for Giles' living room to be straightened almost completely and for wounds to be tended to. The Sirenial Sisters were gone. But they left quite an aftermath. Xander and Spike, against his will, both had to spend a day at the hospital for various non-fatal wounds. Willow, Buffy, Tara and the others that lost their souls didn't require any medical treatment. The spell on them wore off once the Sirenial Sisters were gone. So did the spell on the factory where Karen and Charlotte had been stuck. They both found Willow and begged for her forgiveness, which she of course gave, and swore off even burning incense ever again. All was well again.  
  
After recovering his memory when the Sirenial Sisters left, Giles also apologized for any inappropriate behavior. And then he requested they all meet at his house so he could copy down all the details he missed. The two witches Rosa and Reina soul sucked were too weirded out still to come. But later they did agree to meet with Willow and Tara about some spells. But besides them and the obvious expectations of Karen, Charlotte, and the Sirenial Sisters themselves, they all came. They settled happily into Giles' den which had been cleaned up thoroughly. The mood was light as the still conscious and non-soul-sucked ones during the fight recounted it.  
  
"I still can't believe you chose me over getting your powers back," Xander admitted as he cuddled against Anya on the couch.  
  
"Of course I did!" Anya exclaimed and kissed him happily.  
  
Spike rolled his eyes but there was a faint smile on his face as he gently squeezed Willow's hand.  
  
"What I can't believe is what happened when the lamp was unplugged by Willow," Giles said. "Would you explain it again?"  
  
"Okay, Cullena wasn't really unconscious," Xander started with excitement.  
  
"Like Mike Meyers from those bloody 'Halloween' movies," Spike added.  
  
"And she was really angry so she was about to kill Anya with some ball of energy or something," Xander continued.  
  
"But I smashed their necklaces and they disappeared. Then D'Hoffryn appeared just before the energy hit and took me to his dimension," Anya explained.  
  
"Which would explain the big hole in that wall," Spike said as he motioned to the plastic sheet covered hole.  
  
"When D'Hoffryn offered me my powers again, he also showed me the look on Xander's face. He looked so despondent that I remembered everything and I demanded to be sent back." Anya smiled and kissed Xander again.  
  
He flinched a little and broke away from her. He touched his bandaged nose and said, "I also can't believe that I broke my nose."  
  
"S-sorry about that," Tara apologized shyly from her seat between Tara and Buffy.  
  
"No problem, let's just hope it doesn't look weird when it heals." He leaned in to kiss Anya but she stopped him.  
  
"Look weird?" she asked.  
  
"Tara, you should go patrolling with me. The vamps won't know what hit 'em, literally," Buffy laughed.  
  
Tara blushed but smiled.  
  
"Man, I really wanted to be at the fight," Riley said. "If my troop and I were there-"  
  
"Relax, Riley, we had it covered," Xander replied confidently.  
  
"Oh yeah, three against eight, no big deal!" Spike smirked with the same confidence as Xander.  
  
"By the way, I'm really sorry that I had to be one of those eight," Willow apologized.  
  
"Me too," Tara chimed in.  
  
"Don't worry, Will and Tara, you guys were unwilling assistants only," Buffy brushed it off.  
  
"Well this is quite extraordinary," Giles said as he cleaned his glasses. "I'm sorry I couldn't have helped."  
  
"No, really, in your condition then, it was better for you to be unconscious," Xander said quickly.  
  
"Did you get hurt, Giles?" Willow asked with concern and confusion.  
  
Some of the others exchanged glances.  
  
"I was," Giles answered nervously, "not myself."  
  
Everyone except the embarrassed Englishman and the two clueless witches started laughing. Soon they were all laughing not just about Giles but about the whole ordeal. About five minutes later, the laughter subsided. They all decided to go home then. It was late and some of them needed to sleep.  
  
Xander and Anya left first, both smiling and giggling together. They left quickly and everyone else knew what their plans were for that night. Then Riley and Buffy left together. They were both a little put off that they missed the big fight but they were happy that everyone was okay. Then, after exchanging numbers and hugs with Willow, Tara went home.  
  
"You two have been through a lot. Almost more than the others. Why don't you home and," Giles paused and smiled knowingly, "sleep."  
  
Willow hugged him quickly and Spike simply nodded at him. Spike had done a lot for Willow. It was clear to them all that he really did love her.  
  
On the walk home, Willow and Spike held hands and even though they were eager to get back to her dorm, they took their time.  
  
"Spike," Willow said softly.  
  
"Yeah, pet?" Spike replied warmly.  
  
"I just really wanted to thank you for... everything. For saving me, for putting up with my friends who, by the way, seem to be warming up to you, for sticking by me through all of this. And, most of all, for coming back."  
  
They stopped on the sidewalk and she gazed up at him. He leaned down and whispered into her ear, "my pleasure."  
  
Willow smiled and pulled Spike to her.  
  
"I love you," she murmured and kissed him passionately.  
  
The End.  
  
There, a nice sappy ending. :) So... did you like it? Hate it? Please review! 


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